News Analysis
Pakistan is going through an extraordinary period of crisis as its administrators jostle to rescue its debt-ridden economy amidst rising political uncertainties and surging terrorist threats. While its people wrestle with hunger and increasing unemployment, opaque loans from its closest ally, China, are complicating bailout negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Pakistan is facing one of its worst economic crises at a time of political instability and problematic security,” Aparna Pande, a research fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Hudson Institute and author of two books on Pakistan, told The Epoch Times.
The country’s government held ten days of intensive talks with the IMF from Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, but could not reach a deal. While the talks resumed on Feb. 14, Dawn, a leading national newspaper, quoted insiders on Monday, saying that the IMF “wants Pakistan to start work on agreed measures before releasing [the] next tranche.”…