FILE PHOTO: The International Monetary Fund logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S. on September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File PhotoKARACHI : Pakistan is looking to clinch a staff level agreement on an International Monetary Fund bailout of more than $6 billion this month after addressing all of the lender's requirements in its annual budget, its junior finance minister told Reuters.
"We hope to culminate this process in the next three to four weeks," Minister of State for Finance, Revenue and Power Ali Pervaiz Malik said on Wednesday, with the aim of thrashing out a staff level agreement before the IMF board recess. Malik said the point of pushing out a tough and unpopular budget was to use it a stepping stone for an IMF programme, adding the lender was satisfied with the revenue measures taken, based on their talks.
Sakib Sherani, an economist who heads private firm Macro Economic Insights, said a quick deal with the IMF was needed to avoid pressure on Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves and the currency given the country's maturing debt repayments and the effects of unwinding of capital and import controls that were applied earlier.
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