ISLAMABAD
\nFinance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has confirmed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will provide support of $1 billion to Pakistan.
\n\u201cUAE authorities have confirmed to IMF for their bilateral support of US $1 billion to Pakistan,\u201d Dar said in a tweet today. Ishaq Dar added that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was now \u201cengaged for needful documentation for taking the said deposit from UAE authorities\u201d.
\nThe move will pave way for Pakistan to unlock the months-long delayed $1.1 billion IMF loan tranche to shore up the country\u2019s struggling economy. Saudi Arabia last week had also told the IMF it will provide $2 billion in financing to Pakistan.
\nPakistan has less than a month\u2019s worth of foreign exchange reserves and is awaiting a bailout package of $1.1 billion from the IMF that has been delayed since November over issues related to fiscal policy adjustments.
\nTo unlock the funding, the government has cut back on subsidies, removed an artificial cap on the exchange rate, added taxes and raised fuel prices. The IMF\u2019s managing director Kristalina Georgieva said the previous day the fund was also in talks with friendly countries of Pakistan to provide financial assurances so it can complete the programme.
\nIMF chief Kristalina Georgieva has hoped that Pakistan won\u2019t face Sri Lanka and Ghana-like situations. \u201cPakistan won\u2019t default. \u201cIt is best not to get there, and currently, we are not there yet,\u201d IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at a news briefing in Washington.
\nThe IMF and Pakistani officials, she said, were also discussing how to support Pakistan \u201cin terms of providing financial assurances so we can complete the programme\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has confirmed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will provide support of $1 billion to Pakistan. \u201cUAE authorities have confirmed to IMF for their bilateral support of US $1 billion to Pakistan,\u201d Dar said in a tweet today. Ishaq […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3857,1925],"class_list":{"0":"post-325887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-finance-minister","9":"tag-ishaq-dar"},"yoast_head":"\n