Islamabad/IBNS: Economist Steve Hanke has warned Pakistan might soon be on the brink of a “debt default”.
He said PM Shehbaz Sharif government is failing to save the sinking ship.
He said Pakistan’s sovereign bonds have lost more than 60 percent of their value this year.
” #EconWatch: #Pakistan is on the brink of a debt default. Its sovereign bonds have lost more than 60% of their value this year. I’m not surprised. PM Sharif’s government is failing to save the sinking ship,” he tweeted.
Pakistan is currently facing troubles like deflating its economy and spiraling inflation.
The recent floods, which paralysed the nation, added to the country’s woes.
The debt burden alone is so high that the country’s foreign creditors are pricing in the possibility of a default on a bond that is maturing in December, barely three months away, reports Dawn News.
Pakistan’s credit rating has been downgraded by Moody’s with a blistering statement, saying the country’s ability to afford its own debt is “one of the weakest among the sovereigns” that the rating agency deals with. Interest payments alone, the agency estimates, will eat up half of the government revenue this fiscal year, up from around 40 percent last year, the newspaper reported.
