ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will ask the IMF to ease restrictions on a $10 billion loan in the face of the worst floods in the country's history, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
It quoted Pakistani officials as saying Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh would visit Washington next week to ask the International Monetary Fund to restructure the current loan, which was made in 2008, or consider new financing because the flooding means it cannot meet the loan's conditions.
The flooding has made more than 4 million homeless. An estimated eight million are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
Even before the floods, there were strong doubts over Pakistan's ability to meet requirements under the current IMF loan. The floods, which have ravaged crops, are certain to cut economic growth.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in New York on Thursday that the government would “revisit” its budget and that officials would have to talk to the IMF, which made the emergency loan to help the country avert a balance of payments crisis.
The two sides are due to meet on Aug. 23 to review Pakistan's performance and the release of a sixth tranche of the loan. – Reuters
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