No Chinese cash bailout for Pakistan

No Chinese cash bailout for Pakistan, next stop IMF
New York Times report says Zardari returned from Beijing without commitment By Khalid Hasan WASHINGTON: Contrary to expectations, China has refused Pakistan the immediate cash injection of $1.5 billion to $3 billion it was seeking, leaving Islamabad no alternative but to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a report in the New York Times on Sunday. Filed from Islamabad by correspondent Jane Perlez, the report said that President Asif Ali Zardari had returned from Beijing without a commitment. A Chinese official was quoted as having told a Western diplomat, “We have done our due diligence, and it isn’t happening.” Javed Burki, a former Pakistani finance minister, said China had provided $500 million in balance-of-payments support in 1996, when Pakistan was on the brink of default. But those days are over, he said, because China is no longer inclined to grant cash outright without structural reforms from the receiving government. Shaukat Tareen, the new financial adviser, who accompanied Zardari to China, was seen as preparing the public for an IMF programme on Saturday by saying for the first time at a news conference that if Pakistan could not stabilise its economy within 30 days, it “can go to to the IMF as a backup ..>>
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