Staff-level pact likely next week; Chinese loan shores up reserves to $3.8b
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday that Pakistan’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund related to the completion of the ninth review of a $7 billion loan programme were near conclusion and the staff-level agreement with the global lender will be signed by next week.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, the finance czar rubbished rumours regarding Pakistan defaulting. “Anti-Pakistan elements are spreading malicious rumours that Pakistan may default. This is not only completely false but also belies the facts,” he said.
Dar said that the State Bank of Pakistan’s forex reserves had been increasing and were almost near $1 billion, “higher than four weeks ago despite making all external due payments on time”.
“Foreign commercial banks have started extending facilities to Pakistan. 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,” he added.
Meanwhile, following the refinancing by the China Development Bank, the foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan rose by more the $500 million.
The central bank, in its weekly bulletin, said that its foreign exchange reserves have increased by $556 million to $3,814.1 million as of the week ended February 24, which will provide an import cover of around eight weeks.
