"No threat of Pak getting bankrupt"

Washington, Oct 14 : Shaukat Tareen, the Financial Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister, has allayed fears of Pakistan going bankrupt, saying that debt repayments amounting to nearly 500 million dollars were not due until next year.

He maintained that Pakistan was emerging as a strong country from economic point of view, and that there was "no threat of Pakistan getting bankrupt", reported The News.

Giving an upbeat account of his meetings with finance ministers from various countries and heads of international financial institutions, he said that only the next 12 to 18 months were problematic for Pakistan, but the country's overall financial health was strong.

He said the present fiscal deficit of 7.4 percent will be brought down to 4.3 percent, and that the trade and current account gap will be closed as the economy settles down and financial inflows resume.

He said the 1.64 billion dollars pledged by the World Bank will be made up of 800 million dollars for balance of payments support and 600 million dollars for projects.

Tareen listed the various steps the government planned to take in the short and long terms to stabilise the economy. Economic and fiscal imbalances would be corrected and it would all be accomplished in an orderly way, he added.

ANI