Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that he would like to reschedule $27 billion in non-Paris Club debt, most of which is owing to China, but he would not like to pursue haircuts as part of any reorganization.
On Friday, while giving an interview with Reuters, Dar ruled out the chances of Pakistan’s debt default, a postponement of the December bond maturity date, and renegotiation of the country’s present International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.
The Finance Minister claimed that multilateral development banks and foreign donors had been very flexible in finding ways to meet Pakistan’s anticipated $32 billion in external financing demands following disastrous floods.
He said that some of this might come from repurposing money from development loans that had already been granted but were paying out more slowly.
Dar stated that Pakistan will seek restructuring on similar terms for all bilateral creditors.
He declined to respond when asked if he felt it would be difficult to convince China, the creditor for around $23 billion of the debt, to participate.
When asked if Pakistan would pursue a principal reduction in its debt, he replied, “Rescheduling is great, but we are not pursuing a haircut. That’s not right.
The minister also met with representatives from Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the IMF, and the World Bank on a number of occasions.
The finance ministry announced in one of several press statements that Dar led Pakistan’s team to a high-level round table discussion on the recent flood that was co-chaired by UK PM Nigel Casey and World Bank Vice President Martin Raiser.
