Our economic challenge is unimaginable, IMF bailout conditions have to be accepted: Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif

 

• 'You all know that we are short of resources,' Shehbaz Sharif said, Pakistan is currently facing an economic crisis

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that the government will have to agree to IMF bailout terms which are "beyond imagination".

"I will not go into details but will only say that our economic challenge is unimaginable. The terms we will have to agree with the IMF are beyond imagination. But we will have to agree to the terms," Shehbaz Sharif said on television notes.

Sharif made the remarks at a meeting of civilian and military leaders in the northwestern city of Peshawar, which he chaired to prepare a response to Monday's mosque bombing that killed more than 100 people.

The Prime Minister said, "Our economic condition is unimaginable." "As you know, the IMF mission is in Pakistan, and it is giving us a tough time," he said.

"You all know that we are short of resources," Sharif said. He said that Pakistan is currently facing an economic crisis.

The IMF's Pakistan representative did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The IMF mission is visiting Pakistan to discuss fiscal consolidation measures, which the institution needs from Pakistan to approve the 9th review of its Extended Fund Facility, aimed at helping countries facing a balance of payments crisis. To do.

Pakistan is in $6.5 billion IMF programme. An IMF delegation is in Pakistan to resume stalled talks since November for $2.5 billion in funds yet to be disbursed.