Pakistan is currently engaged in discussions with bilateral partners for arranging inflows somewhere in the region of $6 billion as the South Asian nation scrambles for backup to avoid defaulting on its debt in the coming months.
Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha told reporters on Thursday that discussions with China and Saudi Arabia for $3 billion each were ongoing, and talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are being held regularly.
Pasha was confident that Pakistan will fulfill all external payment obligations and will not default, adding that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is scheduled to meet with IMF officials during the upcoming donor’s conference, which begins on January 9 in Geneva.
LC Restrictions ‘Eased’
Earlier during a session of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, Pasha responded to queries on investor difficulties in opening letters of credit for imports. She said the restrictions were in place due to economic challenges but were gradually being eased.
The Minister of State clarified that due to tremendous economic issues, the coalition government was forced to impose such restrictions, and the import of non-essential and luxury items was restricted in the best interests of the country.
Pasha went on to say this was only a temporary setback and all restrictions would be lifted as the economy and currency situation improves.
Pertinently, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday decided to ease LC restrictions by withdrawing the obligation for prior approval needed for banks for initiating import transactions. Though a circular dated December 27th, 2022, SBP said banks may actively engage with all their customers to process their requests, keeping in view the customers’ risk profile and liquidity conditions prevailing in the foreign exchange market.
All countries are requested not to support Pakistan financially as all this support will be transferred abroad to their personal accounts and the poor public will have to bare the cost with high inflation and taxes.
They are only begging it for their personal gains. All this wealth will be laundered to Dubai, USA, Europe Canada Switzerland etc etc where they are living freely and enjoying a lavish life style doing nothing at the cost of poor Pakistanis lives.
I strongly recommend please dont give these corrupt elite leaches nothing. You all will repent later on and you will never get it back