ISLAMABAD: In a major offer, Chairman of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECA) Malik Muhammad Bostan on Wednesday offered a cash-strapped Pakistan’s government of providing $1 billion for the next two years.
The announcement from Malik Muhammad Bostan comes as the country’s economy battles challenges on the foreign exchange front.
While briefing Senate Standing Committee on Finance, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwala, Malik Bostan said that ECA was ready to provide $1bn as a relief to Pakistan for two years as International Monetary Fund (IMF) was delaying a $6 billion bailout package by putting one after another condition.
IMF putting new conditions
He said that billions of dollars are being smuggled from Pakistan every month through official and unofficial trade and the borders, all burdening Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.
Bostan said, “There is a need to give the market a free hand, a lot of money is being wasted in cryptocurrency and foreign forex trade.”
He urged the coalition government to provide Hundi/Hawala licenses to exchange companies on a pattern of Dubai and the UK.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government is taking desperate measures to get much-needed funds, but the IMF is not satisfied with the incumbent government’s previous steps.
The staff-level agreement between Pakistan and the IMF was scheduled for February 9.
In new conditions, the IMF wants friendly countries to honour their commitments to fund cash-strapped Pakistan before the multilateral lender signs off on a $6.5 billion bailout program.
