‘No restructuring of bilateral debt’

The State Bank is not considering restructuring bilateral debts, Governor Jameel Ahmed said at a briefing for analysts on Monday after announcement of the monetary policy. “In fact, the State Bank is not even aware about the restructuring of external debt. This means the government has not worked out such plan,” said Tahir Abbas, the head of research at Arif Habib Limited, after attending the meeting. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had said on Saturday that the government was working on the possibility of restructuring its bilateral debt. The finance minister may have been referring to the rollover and extension of the tenure of bilateral debts, some of the analysts who attended the meeting said. Pakistan owes a total of $9 billion to just three countries — $4bn to China, $3bn to Saudi Arabia and $2bn to the UAE. “Each year this amount is rolled over and the government negotiates with these governments for the rollover,” said Mr Abbas.