*ISLAMABAD – A team of the International Monetary Fund will visit Pakistanthis week.*
The team is expected to hold meetings with Finance Minister Asad Umar.
The delegation is expected to be briefed on the economic situation. It willbe apprised of the changes in the federal budget.
The visit can have implications as Pakistan has yet to take a decision overa bailout given its balance-of-payments crisis.
“We are in discussion with them [global monetary organisation], but this isnot to negotiate for a loan. Our purpose is to do our homework, in case wewant to approach them at some stage,” the minister said in an interviewwith Arab News link.
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He remarked that the country is not in an emergency situation and is not ina rush to seek a bailout from the monetary fund.
Pakistan has gone to the IMF repeatedly since the late 1980s. The last timewas in 2013, when Islamabad got a $6.6 billion loan to tackle an economiccrisis.
However, there are fears that the terms of any new loan will be morestringent than in 2013, due to tense relations with the US, the lender’sbiggest donor.
