The rating agency said that while it assumes a successful conclusion of the ninth review of Pakistan’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, the downgrade also reflects large risks to continued programme performance and funding, including in the run-up to this year’s elections.
“Default or debt restructuring is an increasingly real possibility, in our view,” the rating agency said.
The agency added that external public-debt maturities in the remainder of the fiscal year ending June 2023 (FY23) amount to over $7 billion and would remain high in FY24.
Of the $7 billion remaining for FY23, $3 billion represent deposits from China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) that are likely to be rolled over, and $1.7 billion are loans from Chinese commercial banks which Fitch also assumes would be refinanced in the near future.
The SAFE deposits are scheduled to mature in two instalments – $2 billion in March and $1 billion in June.
Pakistan’s CAD was $3.7 billion in the second half of FY2022, down from $9 billion in the same period of FY2021. As such, Fitch forecasts a full-year deficit of $4.7 billion (1.5% of GDP) in FY23 after $17 billion (4.6% of GDP) in FY2022.
The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FPCCI) Businessmen Panel (BMP) has called…
The tax evaders and black economy mafia bosses are putting a strong resistance to the…
Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) will take part in a 3-day Riyadh international expo starting from…
Chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Masroor Khan, along with Mr. Zain-ul-Abideen Qureshi…
Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project will supply 1.347 billion low-cost and environment-friendly units annually to…
All Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Exporters Association has demanded of government to announce incentives over exporting of…
Leave a Comment