ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) held a moot at Washingtonwhere unofficial consultations regarding economic challenges being faced byPakistan were discussed. The meeting held in Washington discussedpossibilities about providing another bailout package in case Pakistan madea formal request.
According to appropriate sources, the Washington-based lender had heldbroad-based unofficial consultations with renowned economists,ex-government officials and academicians from Pakistan in Washington duringthis week by giving special invites.
Islamabad has still not made a formal request to the IMF for a bailoutpackage and *Reuters *on Thursday reported China has given Pakistan acredit line worth $1.6 billion to stave off a balance of payments crisis,two Pakistani central bank sources told, with cash earmarked for boostingfast-depleting foreign currency reserves.
Two State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) sources said the credit facility thataccompanies a currency swap agreement between SBP and China’s central bankhas been hiked to 20 billion yuan ($3.13 billion) from 10 billion yuan.
However, as the incumbent government’s tenure ends, and interim setupprepares to take its place, the IMF invited different sector experts inWashington as part of a consultation process to assess wrongs from theprevious programmes and formulate a blueprint which could assist Islamabadin overcoming its economic problems.
Previous IMF bailouts never attained their required objectives aside fromthe one during the incumbent’s tenure, whereas all other programmes werestruck down half way.
But the official said more deliberations will be held in Lahore, Islamabadand Karachi and shared the IMF had expressed concerns about mounting debtburden, especially from the Chinese side.
Because of Pakistan’s poor track record of structural reform, harsh taxreforms could be enforced, and IMF may provide a standby facility insteadof a medium-term one, said the source.