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Found 15 results
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Sri Lanka's President says negotiations with the IMF have successfully reached its final stage
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Revival of IMF bailout plan not an end in itself: PM Shehbaz Sharif
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Will have to work hard to make Pakistan's economy self-sufficient, says PM Shehbaz Sharif -
Mohsin Leghari warned spoiling IMF bailout will be ‘high treason’
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Punjab bureaucracy tells Leghari sabotaging deal will be tantamount to “criminal conspiracy”, “high treason” -
Miftah Ismail announces the development on Twitter; Islamabad is likely to receive $1.17bn loan tranche within six days
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Pakistani leadership expects Washington-based lender will resume stalled $6b bailout programme, but rally in assets may fizzle out amid escalating political tensions
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Pakistan receives letter of intent from IMF, inches closer to sealing bailout deal
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Letter is now to be jointly signed by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and Acting SBP Governor Murtaza Syed -
Sri Lanka to restart IMF bailout talks, president calls for unity government
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Island nation of 22 million people is facing its worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948 -
Rupee loses Rs1.64 against US dollar to trade at Rs205.50 in interbank market during intra-day
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Govt should renegotiate bailout package with IMF, says Ishaq Dar
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Former finance minister Ishaq Dar says government has to run the country and not ruin it by taking dictations -
Cathay Pacific announces US$5 billion government-led bailout plan
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
"Quite frankly, without this plan the alternative would have been a collapse of the company," says Cathay chairman Patrick Healy -
Pakistan has been battling to get its economy back on track and end a years-long chronic energy crisis that has crippled industry. Photo: File ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's next government, to be chosen in a July 25 election, faces growing fears of a...
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No decision taken yet on IMF bailout package: Finance Ministry
ADMIN posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
ISLAMABAD: The Finance Ministry on Thursday clarified that the government had not yet taken any decision to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for any bailout package.?It is clarified that the Finance Minister has been misquoted by a... -
People take part in a demonstration marking a 24-hour general strike against austerity in Athens, Greece, December 14, 2017. REUTERS ATHENS: Greeks walked off the job on Thursday in a nationwide strike protesting against austerity measures and reforms the leftist-led government has agreed with the country?s bailout lenders. Domestic flights and Athens transport were disrupted, ships remained docked for 24 hours and some public services were shut by the strike organized by Greece?s largest labor unions, private sector GSEE and its public sector counterpart ADEDY. The two unions have staged repeated strikes since the first bailout in 2010 but participation has been low in recent years due to inertia and austerity fatigue after three rescue packages and five snap elections in eight years. Around midday, about 10,000 striking workers, pensioners and students marched peacefully to parliament where lawmakers have been debating the 2018 budget. A vote on the draft is scheduled for next week. They chanted: ?Take your bailouts and get out of here.? Protesters held banners reading ?Shame on you!? and ?No more lies!?. Greece?s fiscal goals have been approved by its European Union lenders and the International Monetary Fund. Under its latest bailout review, the government has agreed to cut spending further, reduce pensions, complete an evaluation of public sector staff?s skills and qualifications and sell coal-fired power stations. It will also tighten the rules for unions to call a strike. ?Hands off unions!,? chanted some of the protesters. The state had adopted ?ruthless dead end policies which were strangling the Greek people?, GSEE said in a statement. Hundreds of thousands of Greeks have lost their jobs during the crisis and a deep recession induced by austerity. Pensioners have seen their income slashed by more than 30 percent. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras won power in 2015 on promises to end austerity but later signed up to a new 86 billion euro bailout that ends in August. He was re-elected on pledges to protect the poor and pensioners as well as workers? wages and rights. With his Syriza party?s popularity sliding in opinion polls, Tsipras, whose term ends in 2019, wants to attempt ?a clean exit? from the bailout, without additional financial aid from the lenders that usually comes with more conditions.
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Eurozone agrees Greek bailout payment, IMF comes on board
waqas dar posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Eurozone ministers struck a long-delayed bailout deal with Greece on Thursday to unlock badly needed rescue cash, but warned Athens would have to wait for debt relief. After hours of talks in Luxembourg IMF chief Christine Lagarde and the eurozone's 19 finance ministers greenlit a payout of 8.5 billion euros to avoid Athens defaulting in July and avert another summer of Greek crisis. Payment of the latest tranche of Greece's 86-billion euro ($97-billion) bailout, agreed in 2015, has been held up for months by a row over its needs for debt relief which has pitted bailout-weary Germany against the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "I am pleased to announce we have achieved an agreement on all elements," Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem told a news conference in Luxembourg. "I think this is a major step forward," he added. In a breakthrough, Lagarde agreed in Luxembourg that the Washington-based IMF would join Greece's massive bailout, but said any payouts depended on the eurozone coming up with a full debt relief plan. "Nobody claims that this is the best solution. This is a second-best solution, but it's not a bad solution," said Lagarde, a former French finance minister. Greater clarity The deal averts a repeat of the summer of 2015 when Greece spectacularly defaulted on an IMF loan, and allows Athens to meet seven billion euros of debt repayments due in July. "We feel that after this Eurogroup there is much greater clarity for both the Greek people and the financial markets," Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said after the talks. "There is now light at the end of the tunnel," he said. Athens had insisted all week it would veto the deal, bitter that the latest disbursement would come without firm debt relief commitments after it delivered on tough reforms. As a consolation, in a compromise negotiated by France, Greece won a certain amount of clarity from the eurozone on debt relief, including an agreement to link debt repayments to Greek growth. Debt relief "will be implemented at the end of the programme, conditional on its successful implementation" in 2018, said Dijsselbloem, who is also Dutch finance minister. Exit strategy The eurozone will now draw up an "exit strategy" over the next year "to enable Greece to stand on its own feet again", Dijsselbloem said. He thanked the "Greek people for their intense efforts and resolve" after the government in Athens passed the latest in a series of tough reforms to get the cash. After three bailouts, Greece's debt currently stands at a staggering 180 percent of annual output, by far the biggest national debt pile in Europe. The IMF, which took part in Greece's two first bailouts, has long insisted that more debt relief was a necessary step to put the economy back on track. But Berlin, Greece's sternest critic and biggest lender, has resisted any fresh commitment to debt relief, saying Athens doesn't need it and must continue reforms. The IMF's decision to come on board was therefore a breakthrough. Lagarde said it would put $2 billion into the programme. Lagarde's move is controversial, with critics accusing the Washington-based organisation of bending its own rules to satisfy Berlin. The IMF had insisted repeatedly that Greece's debt is not sustainable, and that the country would require significant debt relief from Europe before the fund could approve a new loan programme. Greece nearly crashed out of the euro in 2015 after a furious fight over the bailout deal, and says its fragile recovery has suffered from the most recent delay. In an emotional editorial published on Wednesday in France, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Thursday's meeting was "essential" for the "future of Europe". -
Greece pushed to take bailout deal without debt relief
waqas dar posted a blog entry in Geo News Blog
Greece faced pressure Wednesday to accept a bailout deal with no new debt relief so that it can meet huge repayments and avert a fresh crisis this summer. After months of bickering, Greece's eurozone creditors and the International Monetary Fund are on the verge of breaking a deadlock when they meet in Luxembourg on Thursday. "On Thursday, we will manage to achieve that," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, the eurozone's most influential official, told Bloomberg news agency. But Athens insisted it would veto the deal, furious that the disbursement of the latest tranche of its 86-billion euro bailout agreed in 2015 could come without long-hoped-for firm debt relief commitments. "We are far from finding a solution at the Eurogroup on Thursday, given that Germany has not made any step," a Greek government source told AFP. Bitter disagreement between Germany and the IMF has held up the payout of a fresh tranche for Athens to meet seven billion euros of debt repayments due in July. Berlin, Greece's harshest critic, has long resisted any fresh commitment to debt relief for Athens, saying it must trim its budget and reform. The IMF -- whose chief Christine Lagarde will be at the meeting with the 19 eurozone finance ministers -- has long insisted that debt relief be part of a deal. But in a major breakthrough, the Washington-based IMF this month agreed to join Greece's massive bailout while putting off the debt question until a later date. The IMF compromise is a setback for Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has pushed through waves of tough reforms on a promise that Greeks would win debt relief as a reward. Greece nearly crashed out of the euro in 2015 after a furious fight over the bailout deal, and says its fragile recovery has suffered from the most recent delay. Difficult, complicated To soften the blow on debt relief, France has asked its eurozone partners to offer Athens a commitment to debt relief linked to Greece's economic growth. "We are really doing our best to find an agreement," said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire after talks on Monday with his Greek counterpart Euclid Tsakalotos. "It's difficult. It's complicated," he said before talks with Tsipras. Tsipras has urged his eurozone creditors to accept the French compromise. Thursday's meeting was "essential" for the "future of Europe, democratic Europe and for a Europe of growth", Tsipras said in an emotional editorial published in French daily Le Monde on Wednesday. Without an accord, Tsipras said he will take up the issue with EU leaders at a summit in Brussels next week, a situation that the eurozone ministers will do everything to avoid. The IMF's compromise is a controversial one, with critics accusing the Washington-based fund of caving in to Berlin. The IMF had insisted repeatedly that Greece's debt is not sustainable and the country would require significant debt relief from Europe before the fund could approve a new loan programme.