Before disbursing fresh funds to Pakistan, the IMF wants assurance from Saudi Arabia that it will commit $4bn of funding to the financially stressed nation. This is because IMF seeks to ensure that there is no funding gap after its $1.2bn loan disbursal towards Pakistan, which will not sufficiently cover the South Asian nation’s debt burden. Currently, the country is still grappling with political and financial uncertainty reflected in the sinking PKR and falling bond prices. As per analysts, Pakistan needs at least $41bn in the next 12 months for debt repayments and to shore up forex reserves. The IMF is also in discussion with the country about the potential transfer of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) worth 2bn ($2.6bn).
Pakistan’s dollar bonds were trading higher with its 7.95% 2029s up over 2.12 points to 70.24, yielding 15.33%.
