If Pakistan does not restart the loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has been inactive since last year due to the South Asian nation’s economic crisis, it risked defaulting on its external obligations. A rating agency, Moody’s, has issued the warning as the cash-strapped nation rushes to finish the ninth review in order to secure $1.2 billion from the international lender. “We consider that Pakistan will meet its external payments for the remainder of this fiscal year ending in June,” Grace Lim, a sovereign analyst with the rating company in Singapore, was quoted as saying in a Bloomberg report. “However, Pakistan’s financing options beyond June are highly uncertain. Without an IMF programme, Pakistan could default given its very weak reserves,” the analyst said. The foreign exchange reserves have dropped to critical levels while talks with the IMF for the release of the ninth tranche are still unsuccessful. The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) stood at $4.457 billion as of April 28, 2023. Meanwhile, consumer prices witnessed an increase in the outgoing week due to a surge in rates of wheat flour, chicken, potatoes, pulses, and powdered milk, taking the weekly inflation to 48.35% on an annual basis.