Fragile stability

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has once again contended that ‘Pakistan is heading in the right direction’, conceding the urgency of securing external financing for the approval of its $7bn bailout package by the IMF executive board. His recorded address was broadcast amid further delays in the approval of the facility by the board, at least until the middle of this month, because of the country’s failure to secure a timely rollover of $12bn in loans from China, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, as well as arrange $2bn in commercial loans to fill the financing hole for the present fiscal. The staff-level agreement was concluded on July 15, with the minister hoping to get IMF board approval for the fresh deal by middle of last month. The same day PM Shehbaz Sharif said his government was working on implementing conditions from the IMF but did not elaborate.