IMF offers $6bn package: Dawn

By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, Oct 21: The United States has repeated its offer to help rescue Pakistan from the current financial crisis as diplomatic sources in Washington say the International Monetary Fund has agreed to provide $6 billion to the country to boost up its ailing economy.

�It�s hard for me to speculate,� said State Department�s deputy spokesman Robert Wood when asked if the IMF had agreed to offer a rescue package to Pakistan. But �we obviously will try to see what we can do to help Pakistan get through its financial crisis�.

Pakistan had �no choice but to seek help from the IMF,� said another State Department official. The official, who was not identified, was quoted in the US media as saying that Pakistani officials knew it would not be a popular decision in Pakistan but they had to go to the IMF.

�It won�t be popular with the public and it sends a lot of negative signals about Pakistan�s financial situation, its creditworthiness. But it�s a decision the Pakistanis are going to have to make,� he said.

The country�s inflation is running at around 25 per cent, and its foreign currency reserves are rapidly depleting, forcing the government to seek emergency cash advance from friendly countries and international financial institutions.

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