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[ad_1] The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) criticism of Pakistan’s latest budget suggests chances are rising that the lender will opt not to deliver long-awaited aid before its bailout programme finishes at the end of June, Bloomberg reported. “This would cause a severe dollar shortage in the first half of the fiscal year that starts in July, and possibly for longer — significantly raising the odds of default, Bloomberg economist Ankur Shukla said in the report, Pakistan Insight. “It would also raise the prospect of much lower growth, and higher inflation and interest rates than we currently anticipate in fiscal 2024.” The IMF criticised the budget for not taking enough steps to broaden the tax base and for including a tax amnesty. The country’s foreign currency reserves currently stand at $4 billion. With at least around $900 million in debt that must be repaid this month, the reserves will fall by June-end unless the IMF aid comes. Between July-December, Pakistan mus

[ad_1] The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that it will "continue engagement with the government on the loan despite the ramp-up in political tensions”,  Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The remarks by the IMF come days after former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on May 9 in the Al-Qadir Trust case, leading to political unrest in the country.  The Bloomberg report also maintained that the international money lender said that Pakistan will scrap a new fuel subsidy proposal, a decision that potentially clears a hurdle to unlock a long-delayed $1.1 billion loan disbursement, In response to email questions, an IMF spokesperson said that Pakistan had “committed not to implement a so-called cross-subsidy programme in the current fiscal year and beyond”. The IMF added that the incumbent government would not introduce new tax exemptions and would “durably allow” a market-based exchange rate for its currency, the rupee. Read Gov