Pakistan will receive tonight $1 billion
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to receive a $1 billion loan from China any time on Friday.
According to sources, the government has arranged a $1 billion commercial loan from Chinese banks. The amount will be handed over to the State Bank of Pakistan tonight (June 16).
This arrangement is aimed at managing the repayment of foreign loans by June 30, 2023. Pakistan is supposed to make a payment of more than $2 billion in foreign loans this month.
As the central bank’s reserves are at a low level, $4.1 billion at this time, the government has lined up one billion dollars worth of commercial loans from Chinese banks.
Image shows foreign currencies as Pakistan will receive $one billion loan
from China tonight.
The new loan will also support the government to ease pressure on the foreign exchange reserves as the IMF is delaying the resumption of loans. Instead of releasing the stalled tranche to Pakistan, IMF officials are coming up with different excuses to delay the revival of the loan program.
IMF and enemies want Pakistan to become Sri Lanka, says Dar
Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar finally disclosed that the enemies of Pakistan and IMF want Pakistan to become Sri Lanka.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday in Islamabad, Dar said that geopolitics was going on against Pakistan as some elements are dreaming of default of Pakistan.
Senator Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan will not seek rescheduling of the Paris Club loans and will pay them timely. He also said that the government will pay the international bonds.
Finance Minister became aggressive today as the IMF has raised objections about the new budget of Pakistan for the fiscal year 2023-24, starting from July 1, 2023.
He also said that the State Bank of Pakistan was an entity of Pakistan and not any international organization (hinting toward the IMF).
IMF finds faults with new budget
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has observed flaws in the new budget for the fiscal year 2023-24.
Through a short text message sent to journalists, the IMF official in Pakistan Esther Ruiz said that the draft of the FY24 Budget misses an opportunity to broaden the tax base in a more progressive way.
She said that the long list of new tax expenditures reduces further the fairness of the tax system and undercuts the resources needed for greater support for vulnerable BISP recipients and development spending.
The new tax amnesty runs against the program’s conditionality and governance agenda and creates a damaging precedent. Measures to address the energy sector’s liquidity pressures could be included alongside the broader budget strategy.
