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Pakistan paid back more money than it received from lenders |
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April 26, 2000 ISLAMABAD, APR 25 (AP) - Cash-strapped Pakistan paid back more money to global donor agencies this year than it received in loans, Foreign Minister Shaukat Aziz said Tuesday.
"We returned more money to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank than the amount we received," Aziz told a news conference.
By the end of June, Pakistan have repaid dlrs 500 million in foreign loans, he said. No small feat for an impoverished nation of 140 million people, heavily dependent on foreign aid and saddled with international sanctions because of its nuclear program and its economic mismanagement.
Last May the IMF stopped payment on a dlrs 1.6 billion loan package to Pakistan because the government of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif failed to make good on promises of economic reform. The military seized power from Sharif last October charging among other things that his government was ruining the economy.
Despite the cutoff from the IMF, Pakistan received dlrs 27 million from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, an international donor agency official said requesting anonymity.
"The two donor banks are giving new loans, but the amount of the net transfer of money to Pakistan is becoming smaller because of its loan repayment liabilities," he said.
Burdened with a dlrs 32 billion foreign debt, Pakistan last year rescheduled more than dlrs 5 billion in foreign loans from donor nations and commercial banks.
Pakistan will decide whether more rescheduling is needed after the budget is handed down in June.
Currently Islamabad is negotiating a new loan package with the IMF, aimed at tackling Pakistan's debt problem, reducing the budget deficit and alleviating poverty.
"An IMF mission will come to Pakistan in May to finalize the new program," Aziz said. But the final approval will come from the IMF's board later, he said.
Pakistan held preliminary talks with the IMF in Islamabad and Washington earlier this month.
"Our talks with IMF have been positive and constructive," Aziz said. The IMF is satisfied with Pakistan's proposed reform, program which includes structural changes in sectors of finance, agriculture, trade and industry, civil service and energy, he said.
"The economic reforms will be the part of the June budget," he said.
Aziz said under the military-led government the economy is improving with inflation down to 4 percent this year from 6 percent the previous year. There has been an 18 percent increase in revenue collection, while the gross domestic growth rate stands at 4.5 percent from 3.1 percent last year, he said.
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