Pakistan said it will discuss a loan program of as much as $7 billion with the International Monetary Fund, as the nation tries to rebuild currency reserves.
“Certainly, we will talk and negotiate for a program,” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said in an interview late yesterday in Dubai. “We would be looking for anything pragmatic. It would be anything between $5 billion to $7 billion.”
Pakistan's foreign-exchange reserves slid over 40 percent to $6.24 billion in June from a year earlier, enough to cover about two months of imports, central bank data show. The plunge has weighed on the rupee and adds to other challenges facing the recently elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, such as energy shortages and a Taliban insurgency in the northwest.
“An arrangement with the IMF will give the market some confidence,” said Sayem Ali, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Karachi. It would calm fears among foreign investors that the rupee is headed for a “drastic” plunge, he said.