Pakistan is ready to share details of the debt related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with the IMF, Finance Minister Asad Umar has said while rejecting the US’ view that China-funded projects were to blame for the cash-strapped country’s current economic woes.
Speaking to the media here on his return from Indonesia where he requested International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director Christine Lagarde for a bailout package for Pakistan, Umar said the decision to approach the global lender was taken after consultations with friendly countries.
The IMF team, Umar said, was scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on November 7 to negotiate the programme, likely to span over a three-year period. He said Pakistan’s current year debt repayments were about $9 billion but obviously it would not entirely be available from the IMF.
Lagarde has made it clear that the IMF would require absolute transparency on Pakistan’s debts, including those owned by China under the $50 billion CPEC.
Umar, however, rejected the US State Department’s statement, suggesting that the debt accrued on the CPEC projects was to blame for Pakistan’s current economic crisis. The CPEC is a network of infrastructure projects that are currently under construction throughout Pakistan that will connect China’s Xinjiang province with Gwadar port in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. It is the part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative.
The US said the huge Chinese debt was responsible for the economic challenges in Pakistan, adding it will review Islamabad’s bailout plea to the IMF from all angles, including the country’s debt position.
“We understand that Pakistan has formally requested assistance from the IMF. In all cases, we examine that closely from all angles of it, including Pakistan’s debt position, in evaluating any type of loan programme,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert had said, adding this is something the US has been tracking fairly closely. Responding to a question, Nauert said; “The secretary (of state Mike Pompeo) had spoken about this a few months back, I know, in some interviews not that long ago. I think part of the reason that Pakistan found itself in this situation is Chinese debt, and the fact that there is debt that governments have incurred that they maybe thought wouldn’t be so tough to bail themselves out of, but has become increasingly tough.”