Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that his government will have to agree to economic bailout conditions of the International Monetary Fund that are unimaginable, AFP reported.
“I will not go into the details but will only say that our economic challenge is unimaginable,” he told reporters. “The conditions we will have to agree to with the IMF are beyond imagination. But we will have to agree with the conditions.”
Pakistan is going through a major economic crisis, with its national currency hitting record lows and foreign exchange reserves depleting to alarming levels.
The country also faces the threat of debt default as the International Monetary Fund continues to delay a $2 billion (Rs 20, 500 crore) bailout, which was part of a total $6.5 billion (Rs 53, 500 crore) Extended Fund Facility.
Last month, Pakistan had announced a series of measures, including closing all malls and markets by 8.30 pm, in an attempt to conserve energy. The National Energy Conservation Plan was introduced by the country’s government to save the country about Rs 6,200 crore (Rs 2,273 crore).
The country’s economic crisis was exacerbated by the devastating floods that displaced nearly 3.3 crore people of its 23 crore population, and destroyed crops over large tracts of land.
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