Unlocking Financing.

Now that the government is well on its way to finalising the IMF talks and working towards getting the bailout programme reinstated once more, the government can also begin approaching ally states, lending partners, and other international stakeholders to try and secure more funds for the next year. A $2.3 billion loan agreement with a Chinese consortium, announced by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Wednesday, indicates that the government is indeed exploring multiple avenues for financing.

This injection is reportedly going to be directed towards shoring up our foreign reserves, which is extremely important in the current period of stagnation and low growth. On Tuesday, the State Bank of Pakistan announced that its liquid reserves stood at $8.99 billion. Keeping our reserves at a stable level allows for us to make our high import payments. A drastic drop in the reserves would affect our ability to make payments, not to mention that it would lower the value of our already battered Rupee.

Going forward, one of the key tasks for the finance team of the government in the...