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    <title>Aaj TV English News - Business &amp; Economy</title>
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    <description>Aaj TV English</description>
    <language>en-Us</language>
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    <pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:12:28 +0500</pubDate>
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    <ttl>60</ttl>
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      <title>Pakistan has fulfilled all IMF conditions: Ishaq Dar</title>
      <link>https://english.aaj.tv/news/30318983/pakistan-has-fulfilled-all-imf-conditions-ishaq-dar</link>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan has “fulfilled all the conditions” of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), hoping to sign the staff-level agreement with the fund soon.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The minister made the announcement while speaking to &lt;em&gt;Geo News&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Both parties were engaged in tough talks for the last few months to reach a consensus on multiple conditions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He confirmed that both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would provide $3 billion to Pakistan. Both Arab countries have also informed the aforementioned commitment to the IMF.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Riyadh would provide $2 billion while Abu Dhabi has promised $1 billion to Pakistan, Dar said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Moreover, he said that all conditions of the staff-level agreement between Pakistan and IMF have been fulfilled.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Pakistan is hopeful that IMF will soon sign the SLA and get it approved by its Executive Board,” Ishaq Dar added.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Earlier, China on Friday released $300 million to Pakistan – the last tranche of a $1.3 billion rollover loan, Dar had said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;    &lt;figure class='media  w-full  w-full  media--stretch  media--embed  media--uneven'&gt;
        &lt;div class='media__item  media__item--twitter  '&gt;&lt;span&gt;
    &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"&gt;
        &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/MIshaqDar50/status/1646768901668077568"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    &lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
        
    &lt;/figure&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pakistan’s economy has crumbled alongside a simmering political crisis, with the rupee plummeting and inflation at decades-high levels, while devastating floods and a major shortage of energy have piled on further pressures.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Year-on-year inflation hit 35.37 per cent in March – the highest in nearly five decades – while the average inflation rate for the past year was 27.26 per cent.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The South Asian nation’s enormous national debt – currently $274 billion, or nearly 90 per cent of gross domestic product – and the endless effort to service it makes Pakistan particularly vulnerable to economic shocks.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pakistan’s bonds, which have slumped nearly 70% over the last year as the country’s troubles have mounted, climbed for a second day running on the confirmation. The rise was almost 5% for its bond with closest payment date - April 15 next year - taking it to almost 50 cents in the dollar, compared to 46 cents a few days ago.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On Thursday, the IMF’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said the fund was also in talks with nations friendly to Pakistan to secure financial assurances vital for the programme.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Last week, Saudi Arabia also told the IMF it would provide financing of $2 billion to Pakistan.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to cover barely a month of imports after the IMF funding stalled in November, hit by snags over fiscal policy adjustments after officials of the lender visited Islamabad in February for talks.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a id="policy-and-fiscal-measures" href="#policy-and-fiscal-measures" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Policy and fiscal measures&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Pakistan had to complete actions demanded by the IMF, such as reversing subsidies in its power, export and farming sectors, hikes in the prices of energy and fuel, and a permanent power surcharge, among other measures.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These steps included jacking up its key policy rate to an all-time high of 21%, a market-based exchange rate, arranging for the external financing, and raising more than Rs170 billion ($613 million) in new taxes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The fiscal adjustments have already fuelled Pakistan’s highest inflation ever, which climbed in March to more than 35% on the year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A final issue to be resolved is a fuel pricing scheme meant to bring relief to Pakistan’s lower middle class and poor from crippling inflation. The IMF has asked how it will be funded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The IMF programme will disburse another tranche of $1.4 billion to Pakistan before it concludes in June.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
      <content:encoded xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p><strong>Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan has “fulfilled all the conditions” of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), hoping to sign the staff-level agreement with the fund soon.</strong></p>
<p>The minister made the announcement while speaking to <em>Geo News</em>.</p>
<p>Both parties were engaged in tough talks for the last few months to reach a consensus on multiple conditions.</p>
<p>He confirmed that both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would provide $3 billion to Pakistan. Both Arab countries have also informed the aforementioned commitment to the IMF.</p>
<p>Riyadh would provide $2 billion while Abu Dhabi has promised $1 billion to Pakistan, Dar said.</p>
<p>Moreover, he said that all conditions of the staff-level agreement between Pakistan and IMF have been fulfilled.</p>
<p>“Pakistan is hopeful that IMF will soon sign the SLA and get it approved by its Executive Board,” Ishaq Dar added.</p>
<p>Earlier, China on Friday released $300 million to Pakistan – the last tranche of a $1.3 billion rollover loan, Dar had said.</p>
<p>    <figure class='media  w-full  w-full  media--stretch  media--embed  media--uneven'>
        <div class='media__item  media__item--twitter  '><span>
    <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
        <a href="https://twitter.com/MIshaqDar50/status/1646768901668077568"></a>
    </blockquote>
</span></div>
        
    </figure></p>
<p>Pakistan’s economy has crumbled alongside a simmering political crisis, with the rupee plummeting and inflation at decades-high levels, while devastating floods and a major shortage of energy have piled on further pressures.</p>
<p>Year-on-year inflation hit 35.37 per cent in March – the highest in nearly five decades – while the average inflation rate for the past year was 27.26 per cent.</p>
<p>The South Asian nation’s enormous national debt – currently $274 billion, or nearly 90 per cent of gross domestic product – and the endless effort to service it makes Pakistan particularly vulnerable to economic shocks.</p>
<p>Pakistan’s bonds, which have slumped nearly 70% over the last year as the country’s troubles have mounted, climbed for a second day running on the confirmation. The rise was almost 5% for its bond with closest payment date - April 15 next year - taking it to almost 50 cents in the dollar, compared to 46 cents a few days ago.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the IMF’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said the fund was also in talks with nations friendly to Pakistan to secure financial assurances vital for the programme.</p>
<p>Last week, Saudi Arabia also told the IMF it would provide financing of $2 billion to Pakistan.</p>
<p>Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to cover barely a month of imports after the IMF funding stalled in November, hit by snags over fiscal policy adjustments after officials of the lender visited Islamabad in February for talks.</p>
<h2><a id="policy-and-fiscal-measures" href="#policy-and-fiscal-measures" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Policy and fiscal measures</h2>
<p>Pakistan had to complete actions demanded by the IMF, such as reversing subsidies in its power, export and farming sectors, hikes in the prices of energy and fuel, and a permanent power surcharge, among other measures.</p>
<p>These steps included jacking up its key policy rate to an all-time high of 21%, a market-based exchange rate, arranging for the external financing, and raising more than Rs170 billion ($613 million) in new taxes.</p>
<p>The fiscal adjustments have already fuelled Pakistan’s highest inflation ever, which climbed in March to more than 35% on the year.</p>
<p>A final issue to be resolved is a fuel pricing scheme meant to bring relief to Pakistan’s lower middle class and poor from crippling inflation. The IMF has asked how it will be funded.</p>
<p>The IMF programme will disburse another tranche of $1.4 billion to Pakistan before it concludes in June.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
      <category>Business &amp; Economy</category>
      <guid>https://english.aaj.tv/news/30318983</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 24 Apr 2023 11:44:49 +0500</pubDate>
      <author>none@none.com (Web Desk)</author>
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