Pakistani Prime Minister
Pakistani Prime Minister – Pakistan, a country recently rampant with political, social and political unrest, is set to face even more challenges in its election year. The government and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have made another appeal to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release the long pending $1.1bn tranche.
Sharif met the managing director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, in France, saying that the country has met all asked requirements and was “fully committed” to fulfil all obligations. He said that the fund would “help strengthen Pakistan’s ongoing efforts towards economic stabilization, and being relief to its people.”
Pakistan has been part of a $6.5bn IMF programme since 2019, having received $1.7 as a tranche in August of 2022. After that, the IMF delegation sent earlier in 2023 visited but the tranche has been not delivered, rapidly approaching the expiration date of June 30th.
The economy of Pakistan may hinge almost entirely on the tranche and other such economic support, as it has only $4bn left in foreign currency reserves with the central bank, which is only enough to cover 4 weeks with of import. Meanwhile, the Pakistani ruppee has depreciated more than 50% against the US dollar compared to its value last year.
Inflation within the country has reached almost 40%, causing great turmoil for the mostly impoverished population, and it is predicted the economy will grow less than 1% this year.
