Pakistan needs $12 billion just to bridge financial gap: Report
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ISLAMABAD - Finance Minister Asad Umar says a team of IMF will arrive in Pakistan on seventh of next month to negotiate a loans program for Pakistan.
Talking to newsmen in Islamabad today (Saturday), he said the government decided to go to IMF after making consultations with friendly countries.
The Minister said the reforms being introduced by the government will not have any negative effect on the poor.
He said special steps have been introduced in the finance bill for the export sector in the finance bill. He expressed the government's resolve to increase exports to come out of the cycle of loans.
The Minister said stock market improved by 600 points with the announcement of going to IMF.
The Finance Minister said trade deficit increased due to rise in prices of petroleum products.
He said foreign exchange reserves have reduced to eight billion dollars. He said rupee devalued against dollar by seven percent from April to September this year.
Meanwhile, talking to PTV on Saturday, Finance Minister Asad Umar said a financial bailout package is mandatory for Pakistan in order to bridge the 12 billion dollars financing gap being faced by the government.
He said going to IMF is one of the options being explored by the government which also includes contacts with friendly governments and tapping the potential of other sources.
Asad Umar said the decline in stock market is not a unique phenomenon to Pakistan. He said Pakistan stock market declined 9% since July while the market of India slid to 13% due to a host of factors, including the international ones like trade war between China and US, renewed global sanctions on Iran and economic situation of Argentina.
The Finance Minister said going to IMF sends positive signals to other international financial institutions and they become more willing to help the economies in distress.
