Pakistan Risks IMF's $1.2bn, Asia Times Online, 9 March 2010
EXCERPT: "Islamabad's tardiness in naming a finance minister to succeed Shaukat Tarin, who resigned on February 23 to pursue his own business interests, may delay the release of US$1.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), part of a bailout package agree in November 2008. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have failed to agree on the appointment of Tarin's replacement despite a warning from the finance ministry that the absence of a minister with the right credentials could delay the release of the IMF funds, according to Business Recorder. [...] Islamabad had to turn to the IMF for a $7.6 billion emergency loan package in November 2008 to meet its international obligations amid a widening current account deficit, which reached $15.6 billion that year. The IMF increased its loan to $11.2 billion in 2009. The government's economic situation has since deteriorated. External debts and liabilities are now $55.68 billion, or one-third of GDP, up from $46.16 billion, or 27.6% of GDP, in June 2008, according to the central bank. [...] The government's cash woes are being exacerbated by delays in reimbursements from the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) for expenditures incurred in the country's fight against terrorism. Islamabad has received only $897 million of its $1.4 billion claim to the CSF for 2008 spending. [...] The CSF appears to have become another lever for the Americans to press Pakistan in a relationship fraught with mutual suspicion, said a recent Dawn editorial. [...] Higher spending on security is failing to improve the country's attraction to overseas investors."
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Related articles:
Development: Going beyond band-aid solutions [op-ed], Daily Times, 9 March 2010
Pakistan on path of economic recovery: IMF, Daily Times, 18 February 2010
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Coalition support fund rejects Pakistan's claims for $400 million, 3 March 2010
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