Fitch, the world’s leading credit rating agency based in Hong Kong, said on Friday that Pakistan must pay a total of $6.7 billion in debt payments for the ongoing fiscal year of 2022-23.
Of this amount, $3.7 billion must be paid by Islamabad this month, with another $3 billion due in June. Krisjanis Krustins, Fitch’s director, warned that these payments could cause the Pakistani rupee to depreciate further, exerting greater pressure on the country’s currency.
Krustins also revealed that Pakistan expects a rollover of $2.4 billion from China to address its economic needs. However, he emphasised the need for Pakistan to revive its International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme.
Pakistan has been working to restart the stalled loan programme with the IMF. Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pledged external funds, but the IMF has demanded that Pakistan “do more” to unlock the loan programme.
Finance Secretary Hamid Yakoob recently met with the IMF in the US, but the meeting remained unfruitful. The international lender has proposed that Pakistan arrange $1 billion from commercial banks to unlock the loan programme.
