IMF debt dilemma looms after Feb 8 election: ex-SBP governor

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) faces tough choices on how to deal with Pakistan after the February 8 general election and how to assess the country’s debt situation, former central bank governor Reza Baqir said. The government secured a $3 billion loan programme with IMF in July that helped pull the cash-strapped nation back from the brink of a sovereign debt default. However, the programme was a nine-month standby arrangement, set to expire this spring. “The IMF will have to decide whether to pull the plug on Pakistan or not, and by that I mean it will have to decide about its assessment of debt sustainability,” said Baqir, head of sovereign advisory services at Alvarez & Marsal.