Back'IMF's most loyal customer': Pakistan sought IMF's help 23 times in 75 years. Read here
Murtaza Syed, a former Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, said, 'In fact, we are the IMF`s most loyal customer'
PremiumThe cash-strapped Pakistan government keeps going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over and over again owing to the current economic crisis. A whopping number of 23 programmes clearly indicates that the country is addicted to the Fund's tough love.
Meanwhile, Argentina, with 21 programmes, comes next.
Murtaza Syed, a former Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, said, "In fact, we are the IMF's most loyal customer."
Syed further said that running to the global emergency ward 23 times in 75 years is no way to run a country.
"Pakistan has less than $3 billion in foreign exchange reserves today. Our reserves have never exceeded $21 billion in our history. Bangladesh has around $35 billion, India has around $600 billion and China has around $4 trillion. Since the early 1990s, Pakistan has had 11 IMF programmes. Bangladesh has had three. India and China have had none," Syed was quoted as saying by Geo News.
Pakistan must repay $73 billion by 2025, according to a Pakistani stockbroker, Topline Securities, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
Experts say it can't meet that obligation, meaning that even if it gets back in the IMF programme, it will still need to negotiate a debt restructuring further down the line. Such a process is a default of sorts, as it involves negotiating debt forgiveness and rescheduling of repayments, the WSJ report added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's government has agreed to increase the policy interest rate which stands at 17 per cent by two per cent or 200 basis points to meet another condition set by the IMF.
With the new decision, the country has accepted another pre-condition of the IMF for the release of $1.1 billion in critical funding, a part of the $6.5 billion bailout package, the report stated, adding that Pakistan has announced the increase in interest rate based on rates the government set in the auction to raise domestic debt.
The decision by Pakistan authorities will push the interest rate to 19 per cent, just below the previous record of 19.5 per cent set in October 1996, according to a report by The Express Tribune.
With media inputs
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