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Pakistan seeks IMF help to avert economic crisis

Having trouble paying $ 42 billion in foreign debts, Pakistani officials will meet with an International Monetary Fund team to see what can be done to avert a major financial crisis.

The IMF said its officials would go to Islamabad this month to assess the economic situation.

Among remedies that will be discussed are resuming IMF loans to Pakistan, which the Clinton administration is legally obliged to vote against under sanctions imposed after Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in May.

Pakistan's currency reserves have fallen to $ 600 million, intensifying doubts about its ability to pay its massive foreign debt. The country also suffers from high inflation and a depreciating currency, the rupee.

State department officials said last month that in spite of the sanctions, the United States would not block IMF aid to Pakistan, which other major members of the IMF were likely to support.

Pakistan received two three-year IMF loans totaling about $ 1.6 billion to help it stabilise its economy last October. About $ 1.1 billion of that amount had not been paid when US. sanctions halted the flow of funds.

UNI