Is Pakistan taking US help for IMF deal? Report says ‘without blessing of…'

Pakistan Economic Crisis: As Pakistan awaits a much-needed USD 1.1 billion tranche of funding from IMF, it is seeking Washington's help in order to secure the agreement, Geo News reported.

Pakistan has decided to seek help from the US to secure “lenient treatment” from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amid a delay in signing the deal with the lender, it was reported. As Pakistan awaits a much-needed USD 1.1 billion tranche of funding from IMF, it is seeking Washington's help in order to secure the agreement, Geo News reported.

Pakistan Economic Crisis: A woman checks rice prices at a main wholesale market in Karachi. (AFP)

This comes as Pakistan's economy continues to be in dire straits as the foreign exchange reserves fell to a critically low level of USD 2.9 billion. Pakistan's foreign minister Ishaq Dar has established contacts with the US, the report claimed, and has made requests to help end the stalemate.

“Without the blessing of Uncle Sam, things may not move in the desired direction, despite Pakistani authorities claiming that they had implemented all prior actions under the advice of the IMF, which were possible for them," the report quotes sources as saying.

"Now the IMF is asking to get 200 per cent assurances from the friendly countries and multilateral creditors to fill the financing gap of USD 6-7 billion on external account till the end of June 2023,” the report added.

The report also said that a senior government official said that the IMF held a final meeting with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) officials hoping that the agreement will be signed in a few days. The IMF demanded abolishing the power sector subsidies on a permanent basis, the official said as per the report.

Pakistan and the IMF have been holding talks after the two sides held 10 days of intensive negotiations from January 31 to February 9 but failed to reach an agreement.