|HT|
Pakistan's interior minister Rana Sanaullah on Monday said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did not release the tranche for $6 billion bailout package even though it made the country dance to its tune.
The minister said that Pakistan is going through the most difficult economic situation and the government needs to make difficult decisions. Sanaullah said that the government had even accepted the IMF terms which it was not favour of, a website reported. The minister appealed to the IMF to release the tranche without delay so that Pakistan is able to get out of the difficult situation. Pakistan has also decided to borrow 5.5 trillion Pakistani rupees from international lenders in the current fiscal year to maintain its foreign exchange reserves, repay the previous loans and finance the current account deficit. In its annual budget, the Shehbaz Sharif government had projected that they will borrow only 3.17 trillion from international sources. But the budget did not include financing from the IMF, Saudi Arabia and the SAFE China deposit.
The business leaders of Pakistan have warned that the country is heading toward social unrest and fear that it is becoming unsafe for foreign investment due to back-to-back government policies that seek to discourage investors.
"We don't have continuity of economic policies. There have to be separate teams for economic matters and political issues so that policies remain intact; otherwise, it will keep affecting foreign and local investors," said the former vice president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Saqib Fayaz Magoon, the Dawn reported.
(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)