Facing an economic crisis, Pakistan has appealed to its close ally China for help. It has sought financial assistance of two billion dollars from Beijing. Acting Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has written a letter to Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang. In which he has requested that the loan be rolled over as soon as the crediting period for the Chinese loan is completed on March 23. This information was given in a media report on Saturday.
According to Pakistani newspaper news, Kakar expressed gratitude to China for helping Pakistan in its economic crisis in the letter. The country, which is struggling with cash crunch, got a total loan of four billion dollars from China. This eased the pressure on the country to pay its external debt and stabilized the foreign exchange reserves.
Earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) froze a $2 billion loan to Pakistan. However, Saudi Arabia has deposited five billion dollars in the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The interim government requested this month to send a new mission to negotiate the final loan tranche of $1.2 billion.
The mission is important not only to collect the final tranche of loans from the IMF, but also to start negotiations for a new long-term loan program.
Former finance minister of the country Ishaq Dar recently spoke to a TV news channel. Meanwhile, he said that if his party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) wins the elections and forms the government, a decision on the new IMF program will be taken soon. Dar said that if his party decides not to join the IMF loan program, he will take immediate action.
. Source
