Islamabad: Pakistan is undergoing several financial crises and now seeking financial help to bail out itself from the critical situation. The new media reports quoted Miftah Ismail, Finance adviser in-waiting to the Pakistan government that the new government will soon restart negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the balance of payments support.

He held the previous government led by Imran Khan responsible for the unprecedented economic mess, including the highest-ever fiscal deficit of Rs6.4 trillion (slightly over 10 per cent of GDP).

Miftah added that the problems left by the PTI government were such that all the problems will take time to resolve.

He assured that at least the prices of items like wheat flour and sugar would be brought down as quickly as possible with the support of provincial governments. Miftah said that stabilising the declining foreign exchange reserves and increasing them is the most important thing at the moment. 

He further said that the Pakistan government will take the existing programme with the IMF forward and complete its three reviews, which involve about $3 billion in outstanding disbursement, by September.  We will negotiate with the IMF and try to persuade them to ease the tough conditions so that the government could provide relief to the nation.

Miftah Ismail explained that the current account deficit (CAD) for the current fiscal year was estimated at $20bn — by far the highest ever. It meant Pakistan had to fund $6bn CAD on top of about $3bn in debt repayments during the remaining period of the fiscal year. 

The financing needs for next year were estimated at $30bn. He said the State Bank currently had $11.3bn in reserves and unless there was an IMF programme, neither can there be assistance from friendly countries nor the World Bank and Asian Development Bank nor the international bond market.