Pakistan needs $25b loans this FY: IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised Pakistan’s foreign loan requirements to $25 billion for this fiscal year — reducing it by $3.4 billion — and also lowered the economic growth projection to just 2%, turning down the government’s external as well as macroeconomic forecasts. Finance ministry sources said the IMF had also lowered its inflation projection for the country to 22.8% for this fiscal year — reducing it from 25.9%. The IMF did not accept the finance ministry’s projections for the current account deficit (CAD), imports, economic growth, inflation and gross financing requirements. However, it adjusted all these numbers during the first review talks in comparison with the estimates of July this year. The revisions to the gross external financing requirements — a sum of money needed to fill the CAD as well as the repayment of maturing debt — and to the macroeconomic projections were made during this week’s first review of the $3 billion bailout package. (Tribune)

18/11/2023