ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar cancelled his trip to United States, citing country’s “Deepening political crisis” as reason. Ishaq Dar was expected to visit US from April 10 to 16 to attend upcoming annual spring meetings of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

He was scheduled to hold separate meeting with IMF officials regarding removal of bottlenecks for revival of derailed $ 6.5 billion programme.

After Dar pulled out of trip, delegation including Finance Secretary Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh and Economic Affairs Secretary Kazim Niaz will attend spring meets of WB-IMF. Delegation will hold talks with IMF officials on sideline of meetings to woo them to release next tranche to Pakistan.

Islamabad has been negotiating with IMF since end of January for release of $ 1.1 billion from $ 6.5 billion bailout package agreed upon in 2019. To unlock funding, government has cut back on subsidies, removed an artificial cap on exchange rate, added taxes and raised fuel prices. Yesterday, International Monetary Fund confirmed that it has received confirmation from Saudi Arabia on $ 2 billion in additional deposits to Pakistan.

Published in The Daily National Courier, April, 08 2023

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