Fuel subsidy scheme needs to be agreed before loan deal IMF official.

ISLAMABAD -- A long-awaited loan agreement between PaAkistan and the InternaAtional Monetary Fund (IMF) will be signed once a few remaining points, including a proposed fuel pricing scheme, are setAtled, an IMF official conAfirmed on Friday.

The coalition govAernment and IMF have been negotiating since early February on an agreement that would release $1.1 billion to the cash-strapped country of 220 million people.

The latest issue is a plan, announced by Prime Minister ShehAbaz Sharif last week, to charge affluent conAsumers more for fuel, with the money raised used to subsidise prices for the poor, who have been hit hard by inflaAtion, which in February was at its highest in 50 years. Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik told the meAdia on Thursday last that his ministry had been given six weeks to work out the fuel...