ISLAMABAD – Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday assured that there was no chance Pakistan would default, revealing that ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were near conclusion and the staff-level agreement with the global lender will be signed by next week.
Speaking exclusively to Pakistan Observer’s Executive Editor Gauhar Zahid Malik, the country’s finance czar said Pakistan is not anywhere near default, as he posed full confidence in ongoing talks and assistance from Beijing.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves saw an increase of $550 million after a commercial loan from the country’s all-weather friend, China. The country’s central bank in its weekly data shows commercial loans from China. The dollar reserves held by State Bank increased by $556 million to $3.81 billion.
PML-N stalwart earlier took to his Twitter where he trashed rumours about debt default. He said Anti-Pakistan elements are spreading malicious rumours that Pakistan may default. This is not only completely false but also belies the facts, his tweet reads.
FinMin maintained that SBP’s forex reserves are increasing and were almost near $1 billion, higher than four weeks ago despite making all external due payments on time.
He continued saying that foreign commercial banks have started extending facilities to South Asian nation. “Our negotiations with IMF are about to conclude and we expect to sign Staff Level Agreement with IMF by next week. All economic indicators are slowly moving in the right direction,” Dar added.
