Pakistan army chief seeks assistance from US amid rising risk of debt default

NEW DELHI: In a bid to avert a default in debt payment, Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has reached out to the United States seeking help in securing an early loan disbursal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a report by Nikkei Asia said on Friday.
A day ago, Pakistan’s central bank said that its official liquid foreign exchange reserves have fallen by $754 million to $8.57 billion, marking another sharp drop in the country’s fast depleting reserves.
“During the week ended on 22-Jul-2022, SBP’s reserves decreased by $754 million to $8,575.1 million due to external debt and other payments,” the central bank had said in its weekly statement on reserves.