US’ Pompeo warns against IMF bailout for Pakistan that aids China

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that any potential International Monetary Fund bailout for Pakistan’s new government should not provide funds to pay off Chinese lenders.

In an interview with CNBC television, Pompeo said the United States looked forward to engagement with the government of Pakistan’s expected new prime minister, Imran Khan, but said there was “no rationale” for a bailout that pays off Chinese loans to Pakistan.

“Make no mistake. We will be watching what the IMF does,” Pompeo said. “There’s no rationale for IMF tax dollars, and associated with that American dollars that are part of the IMF funding, for those to go to bail out Chinese bondholders or China itself,” Pompeo said.

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that senior Pakistani finance officials were drawing up options for Khan to seek an IMF bailout of up to US$12 billion.

An IMF spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that we have so far not received a request for a Fund arrangement from Pakistan and that we have not had discussions with the authorities about any possible intentions.”

Pakistan is struggling to avert a currency crisis that has presented the new government with its biggest challenge.

Many analysts and business leaders expect that another IMF bailout, the second in five years, will be needed to plug an external financing gap.

Pakistan, which already has around US$5 billion in loans from China and its banks to fund major infrastructure projects, had sought another US$1 billion in loans to stabilize its plummeting foreign currency reserves.

Officials in the Trump administration, including US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, have criticized China’s infrastructure lending to developing countries, arguing that this has saddled them with unsustainable debt. — Reuters