Finance Minister Asad Umar on Tuesday left for Indonesia to attend the annual meeting of International Monitory Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Bali, a private media outlet reported.
According to the media reports, the finance minister is likely to hold talks with the IMF officials to ask for an emergency financial assistance to ease a mounting balance of payments crisis.
Umar, in a video message, had earlier announced that talks with the IMF would immediately start as Prime Minister Imran Khan gives a go-ahead to do so.
The country is going through a tough time, which has been left behind by the previous government, he said, adding: “We have to find a way to get out of this difficult situation.” “The prime minister after consulting everyone decided today that we should open talks with the IMF,” Umar said. The negotiations will be aimed at reaching a “stabilisation recovery programme”, which can be used to tackle the economic crisis, the minister said.
It was, however, not specified how much in emergency financing the government would seek, but Umar earlier said the government would need at least $8 billion to cover its external debt payments through the end of the year.
Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves dropped in late September to $8.4 billion, barely enough for those debt payments.
