ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan will get $6 billion (Rs. 849.8 billion) from the IMF over the next three years to meet its foreign debt obligations, the country's advisor on finance, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, said on state television Sunday (May 12), after signing the agreement.
The deal comes after months of negotiations over what will be Pakistan's 22nd bailout aimed at staving off a potential balance-of-payments crisis as the country struggles with a stagnating economy.
Pakistani governments have long feared the ability of poverty, if left unaddressed, to cause desperate citizens to embrace extremism as a "solution".
Foreign loans have exceeded $90 billion (Rs. 12.7 trillion), and exports have registered negative growth over the past five years, said Shaikh on TV.
Pakistan's growth rate is set to hit an eight-year low, said a government report published last Friday (May 10).
