Dar moves to secure rescheduling of $27bn in bilateral debt

To secure greater breathing space in foreign loan repayments amid tight external account conditions, Pakistan is seeking rescheduling of bilateral debt, which now stands at around $27 billion. “Rescheduling of bilateral debt is fine,” said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar while ruling out rescheduling of international debt from wealthy western nations under Paris Club, multilaterals and international sovereign bonds. Talking to journalists on Monday, the minister said there was no point in Paris Club rescheduling debt, because the overall debt to these creditors was no more than 11pc of total foreign debt and debt relief over the year would be less than $1.2bn. Pakistan owes Paris Club countries a combined sum of around $10.7bn. “When we are going to arrange $32-34bn for external payments, another $1.2bn is no big issue,” Mr Dar said.