December 6, 2001	Thursday	Ramazan 20, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 5: The government has asked the International Monetary Fund for grant of about $1.3 billion of concessional loan, equivalent to 100 per cent of Pakistan’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) quota, from the Fund’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility.

The IMF Board is meeting in Washington on Dec 6 (Thursday) to consider Pakistan’s request for the loan. Under the PRGF terms of eligibility, a country may borrow up to a maximum of 140 per cent of its IMF quota of SDRs, although this limit may be increased under exceptional circumstances to a maximum of 185 per cent of quota.

Before Sept 11, the IMF had indicated that it was prepared to allocate to Pakistan a loan of about $700 million, equivalent to about 60 per cent of Pakistan’s quota, totalling 1.03 billion SDRs or about $1.3 billion.

“We have asked for a loan equivalent to 100 per cent of our SDR quota and hopefully we will get roughly $1.3 billion new funding line under the PRGF programme,” said Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Talking to Dawn before leaving for Germany, Italy and France, he said prospects for getting the PRGF with increased funding were bright due to improved economic situation.

He said the IMF Executive Board was meeting in Washington on Thursday to discuss and approve the PRGF for Pakistan. “The approval of the PRGF will help us in getting our substantial loans rescheduled by the Paris Club,” the finance minister said.

Giving details of his visit, he said that bilateral talks would be held with Germany, Italy and France to get enhanced financial support and to secure additional market access for Pakistani goods.

“I will be reaching Berlin first and we hope to get additional 100 million DM from Germany,” he said, adding that there were also expectations for enhanced trade and economic relations between the two sides.

“We are also expecting a major debt relief from Germany,” Aziz said. He also hoped to get one billion dollar German loans converted into social sector funding.