According to The News International, one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan, the country is in the throes of a deep financial crisis with the Imran Khan-led regime ideally requiring gross external financing of $51.6 billion within a two-year period (2021-2023) in order to fulfill its needs and avoid being blacklisted.
In a recent report, the World Bank noted that Pakistan has joined the list of top ten nations with the largest foreign debts.
Citing the International Debt Statistics 2022, The News International reported earlier that there lies a wide divergence in the rate at which external debt is accumulated in individual DSSI-eligible countries including the group’s largest borrowers which include Pakistan.
As per the report, Pakistan’s gross external financing requirement stands at $23.6 billion in 2021-22 and $28 billion in 2022-23.
The development comes despite the very conservative estimates assessed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Pakistani authorities are now reportedly trying to make a last-ditch effort to strike a staff-level agreement with the IMF to bridge the gap of external financing requirements.
The World Bank report also pointed out that Pakistan’s foreign debt increased by 8 per cent; in June this year, another report revealed that the Imran government had borrowed $442 million from the World Bank.