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| IMF urges Pakistan to accept funding |
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Official says market borrowing not an option; warns options running out
DUBAI: The government of Pakistan should consider an emergency support package from the International Monetary Fund, a senior IMF official said on Monday ahead of talks on Pakistan’s restructuring plan.
Mohsin Khan, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia department, said Pakistan has not made a formal request to the IMF for emergency funds but that options were running out. “Market borrowing is not an option, not in the current markets,” Khan told Reuters in an interview.
Officials from the IMF and Pakistan will meet on Tuesday in Dubai to discuss details of a financial restructuring plan, which does not include IMF funding at this stage, Khan said. Pakistan is rapidly losing foreign currency reserves.
Khan estimated that Pakistan had unmet funding needs of around $ 4 billion. “Where that money is going to come from is anybody’s guess,” he said. Many wealthy donor nations are embroiled with their own financial crises, leaving few options for Pakistan other than some of the energy exporting nations in the Gulf and multilateral organizations like the IMF, Khan said.
“There has been no formal approach to the IMF,” he said. “Would I encourage them to? The answer is yes.” The government has said earlier it would not seek an IMF package, which comes laden with conditions.
In Washington, a US State Department official suggested Pakistan may have no choice other than the IMF but stressed it was Islamabad’s call. “It wouldn’t be popular with the public and it sends a lot of negative signals about Pakistan’s financial situation, its credit-worthiness,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But it’s a decision the Pakistanis are going to have to make,” he said.
The IMF would be able to provide funding to Pakistan on favourable conditions with around 5-6 percent interest, Khan said, adding the most painful part of restructuring — the abolition of petrol subsidies — had already been done. “Were they to make a formal request, we can move really fast,” Khan said.A senior Pakistani official said various media reports that Pakistan was requesting a package of between $ 4 billion and $ 10 billion were speculative.
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CJ says good governance being compromised
By Sohail Khan
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that good governance is being compromised as it is believed that the administration of justice is the sole duty of courts or the legal fratern more |
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Hakimullah dies of wounds in Multan?
By Mushtaq Yusufzai
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MNAs seek solution to Sindh-Punjab water rift
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Yousuf Tal more |
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Good governance hinges on change in national behaviour: PM
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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that change in the collective behaviour of the nation is necessary for the promotion of good governance. He said that his government believed in streng more |
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NIC made mandatory to get sugar from USC outlets
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The ECC met here unde more |
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Three provinces to hold LG polls in four months
By Hanif Khalid & Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: A high level meeting here on Tuesday at the Aiwan-e-Sadr decided that the chief ministers of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan would hold local government elections in four months.
President Asif Al more |
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Senators condemn attack on Sh Rashid
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Senators on Tuesday strongly condemned the murder attempt on Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members advised Sheikh Rashid to stop more |
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PIA obliges religiously; latest being religious minister
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ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), facing a mind-boggling loss of about Rs70billion, has quietly upgraded two seats of Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi and his wife fr more |
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A brigadier without brigade has a history of thrashing
By Umar Cheema
ISLAMABAD: The basher-brigadier of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), who assaulted his professor colleague late Thursday, has a long list of such incidents on his credit as his resume is sprin more |
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PAC settles drought money misuse
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: A special committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probing misuse of drought funds worth million of rupees on Tuesday conveniently settled majority of charges against deputy auditor general o more |
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NA-55 by-polls
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has urged all the political parties, including the PML-N, to withdraw from the NA-55 by-polls in favour of Sheikh Rashid.
“ more |
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Point scoring be avoided in Rashid attack case: Shahbaz
By our correspondent
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He said a joint investigation team comprising federal and provincial agencies including I more |
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SC moved against delay in judges’ appointment
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was moved on Tuesday against the government’s delay in the appointment of judges in the apex court and was prayed for directing the government to perform its constitutional duty by more |
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‘74 killed in Bajaur operation’
By Hasbanullah Khan
KHAR: Security forces claimed to have killed 74 militants and injured 54 others and wrested the strategically important hilltops and areas from the insurgents during the weeklong military operation in the Mamon more |
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Afghan unrest kills US, French soldiers
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The US service member was killed in an improvised bomb blast in southern Afghanis more |
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Army called in for today’s Lakki by-election
By our correspondent
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Meeting discusses political issues
ISLAMABAD: A meeting held here at the presidency on Tuesday and presided over jointly by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani discussed political and development issues in the N more |
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Rashid accuses PML-N of promoting criminal culture
ISLAMABAD: Head of Awami Muslim League, Sheikh Rashid, on Tuesday criticised the PML-N-led Punjab government for promoting criminal culture in Rawalpindi and the province.
Talking to a private TV channel more |
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Briefs...
Over 64 dead in Afghan avalanches
KABUL: At least 24 bodies have been recovered and 40 other people are feared dead after avalanches swept vehicles into a ravine and trapped cars in a mountain pass overn more |
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ISSN 1563-9479 
