Next IMF loan will be ‘the last’: Pakistan FM

Pakistan’s finance minister promised yesterday to end the country’s reliance on International Monetary Fund bailouts to shore up its shaky economy, as officials prepare to negotiate a new loan.

Asad Umar’s pledge comes days after Pakistan’s central bank warned inflation could double in the coming year -- hitting 7.5 percent -- while the country’s growth target rate of 6.2 percent would likely be missed. “This will be the 13th and the last IMF programme,” Umar said during a speech at the Karachi Stock Exchange.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s administration has sent mixed messages over whether Pakistan will enter another IMF programme, with the former cricketer suggesting this week that going to the fund may not be necessary. But Umar spoke in grave terms of the country’s balance of payment crisis, which has sparked a depreciation of the rupee and sent stocks tumbling. “We are heading towards bankruptcy very fast. We have to save the 210 million Pakistanis,” Umar added.