{"id":36608,"date":"2024-05-17T16:21:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T11:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/?p=36608"},"modified":"2024-05-17T16:21:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T11:21:47","slug":"imf-demands-pakistan-to-cut-down-expenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/business\/imf-demands-pakistan-to-cut-down-expenses\/","title":{"rendered":"IMF demands Pakistan to cut down expenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

The International Monetary Fund<\/a> has demanded Pakistan cut down expenses as the two sides hold talks for a new bailout package to have economic stability in the country, sources said.<\/p>\n

The demand came as Pakistan\u2019s mounting debt burden and high-interest payments have put a significant strain on the country\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Data reveals that interest payments on public debt have surpassed the federal government\u2019s net revenues, putting the sustainability of Pakistan\u2019s economy in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the country paid a staggering Rs5,518 billion in interest payments while the net revenues during the July-March period amounted to Rs5,313 billion.<\/p>\n

Sources suggested that interest payments on debt are projected to reach Rs 9,787 billion in the next fiscal year, further exacerbating the government\u2019s fiscal woes.<\/p>\n

The current fiscal year\u2019s target for interest payments was set at Rs7,303 billion, but the actual figure is expected to climb to Rs8,371 billion, a Rs1,068 billion overshoot.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0IMF asks Pakistan to tax pensioners as mission lands in Islamabad for monetary talks<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Pakistan’s high external funding needs and reliance on high-interest loans have been declared “dangerously unsustainable” by the IMF, which is pleading with the government to enact measures to lessen the debt load.<\/p>\n

The lender has emphasized that maintaining Pakistan’s debt levels, which are expected to drop from 72.1% to 70% of GDP in the upcoming fiscal year, depends on the successful implementation of ongoing policy changes.<\/p>\n

Although the South Asian nation has not disclosed the amount of the loan it is requesting from the Fund, Bloomberg News stated in February that it was at least $6 billion.<\/p>\n

The report also stated that the nation would attempt to negotiate an Extended Fund Facility with the IMF.<\/p>\n

Pakistan finished a $3 billion short-term program last month, which prevented a sovereign default; nevertheless, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration has emphasized the necessity of a new, longer-term program.<\/p>\n

In its staff report earlier this week, the IMF acknowledged Pakistan\u2019s economic improvement, however, it warned that the outlook remains challenging, with downside risks remaining exceptionally high.<\/p>\n

The country narrowly averted default last summer, and its $350 billion economy has stabilized after the completion of the last IMF program, with inflation coming down to around 17% in April from a record high of 38% last May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The International Monetary Fund has demanded Pakistan cut down expenses as the two sides hold talks for a new bailout package to have economic stability in the country, sources said. The demand came as Pakistan\u2019s mounting debt burden and high-interest payments have put a significant strain on the country\u2019s economy. Data reveals that interest payments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":36609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1247,8117,160,17076,17077],"class_list":["post-36608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-international-monetary-fund","tag-loan","tag-imf","tag-imf-demands-pakistan-to-cut-down-expenses","tag-imf-loan-to-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}