NEW DELHI — In July, Pakistan reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a record 25th program in yet another attempt to kick-start economic growth and development as the South Asian country lurches from crisis to crisis. But the new IMF program, which is likely to be finalized once Pakistan secures "adequate" assurances from major creditors that its outstanding loans will be rolled over, fails to address a much more fundamental problem: the country's unsustainable debt.
Interest payments on public debt consumed an estimated 68 percent of Pakistan's revenue in the 2022-23 fiscal year, and its debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was more than 80 percent, compared to less than 40 percent in Bangladesh, which gained independence from Pakistan in 1971. The IMF estimates the country's total external financing needs will total roughly $128 billion over the next five years, with every year's needs exceeding even optimistic forecasts of its foreign reserves. To restore debt sustainability, Pakistan would need to restructure its internal and external obligations, as Sri Lanka is currently doing.
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