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| December 15, 2001 | Saturday | Ramazan 29, 1422 |
‘Paris Club deal to improve fiscal situation’
ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Friday that the agreement with Paris Club would provide Pakistan a credible exit from its external debt problem.
In an interview with PTV, he said Pakistan had concluded a significant agreement with the club to seek debt relief. The country’s total bilateral debt is $12.5 billion.
“We have got a very unusual treatment from the Paris Club, which will reduce our debt and debt-service cost, and give us fiscal space,” he said.
In the first year, the minister said, it would be a saving of a billion dollars that would be used for human development, health, education, poverty reduction and infrastructure projects.
“We had come to the Paris Club without a standard approach for debt rescheduling. We instead came with a peculiar request, unique to Pakistan’s needs,” Mr Aziz said.
He said the terms accepted by the club allowed the deferment of the official debt for about 38 years with a 15-year grace period on extremely concessional terms. This will help improve the fiscal and cash flow situation, he said.—APP
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