Debt-trappedPakistanwill become the fourth largestIMF borrowerin the world after receiving a fresh loan of $3 billion in the next nine months under the standby arrangement reached with the global lender.
Pakistan, which is facing its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1947, was on March 31, 2023, ranked fifth in the list of countries with the highest borrowing from theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF), The Express Tribune newspaper reported, citing the global lender’s data.
However, Pakistan will move to the fourth place in this list when it receives another $3 billion in the next nine months under the Stand-By Arrangement made with the Washington-based global lender.
Earlier, in terms of loans from the IMF, Argentina ranked first with $ 46 billion, Egypt stood in second place with $18 billion, Ukraine came in third with $ 12.2 billion, Ecuador took the fourth spot with $8.2 billion, and Pakistan was at fifth position with $7.4 billion.
With loans from the global lender worth $10.4 billion, Pakistan will overtake Ecuador to become the world’s fourth-largest IMF borrower.
In August 2022, the IMF extended $1.1 billion to Pakistan as part of a $6.5 billion programme agreed back in July 2019.