Pakistan, facing a cash crunch, has decided to seek help from the US to soften the attitude of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) towards it. Significantly, the staff-level agreement between Pakistan and the IMF is yet to be signed.
Pakistan is yet to receive the $1.1 billion installment from the IMF.
Having failed to persuade the IMF to go ahead with the staff-level agreement, Pakistan has no option but to seek help from Washington and other Western allies, Geo News reported.
Pakistan’s economy is in deep trouble. A few weeks ago, its foreign exchange reserves had reached an all-time low of $2.9 billion.
According to the report, Finance Minister Isaac Dar has established contact with US diplomats in Islamabad and requested the US Department of the Treasury to help resolve the impasse.
It said, “Now the IMF says that Pakistan should obtain 200 per cent assurance by the end of June 2023 from its friendly countries and multilateral creditors to fill the financing gap of $ 6-7 billion on the external account.”
The Monetary Fund has asked Pakistan to seek support from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and multilateral lenders for external financing needs of six to seven billion dollars by June 2023 to bridge the financial gap.
