ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar reiterated on Saturday that Pakistan would not default despite the economic challenges it was facing, adding the government would come up with new ideas in the weeks to come to steer the country out of the economic crisis.
The South Asian country has for months been struggling with an acute balance-of-payment crisis, with inflation hovering at a record high, currency depreciating fast and foreign exchange reserves at critically low levels.
Pakistan is making desperate attempts for the revival of a $6.5 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program that would release a $1.1 billion bailout tranche. The installment has been pending since November and the program is due to expire on June 30, with the government expected to present the federal budget next week.
The stalemate has raised concerns that the country may default on its international financial obligations without the IMF funding. But Dar, in a meeting with a business delegation in Islamabad, assured that Pakistan, as a sovereign country, had assets worth billions of dollars.
“If we have $100 billion in external debts, we also have assets, and one of our assets, the gas infrastructure, alone costs $40 to $50 billion, which is 50 percent of the debt,” he said.
“No one is saying internationally that Pakistan will default, only some pseudo-intellectuals are saying that. In fact, the MD [managing director] of the IMF issued a statement a few weeks back that Pakistan will not default. Their broad discussions center around how is Pakistan surviving.”
Dar said his government would try to come up with new ideas to steer the country out of the present crisis.
“Our main purpose today is just to reassure you, that we will be coming out of [this crisis] and come up with new ideas in the weeks to come,” he said.
“There will be the budget and after that, we will also do things for Pakistan’s long-term betterment.”
Referring to statements by ex-finance czar Miftah Ismail about the country moving toward bankruptcy, Dar said “some people were fond of” predicting dates when the country would default.
“They say the country would default in two to three months. They should be ashamed of themselves,” he added.
