Islamabad : A new government under Pakistan’s incoming leader Imran Khan will need to move quickly to tackle a brewing economic crisis, says Bloomberg in its publication.
The former cricket star’s party claimed victory in Wednesday’s election after results showed it had the most votes. Khan said in a televised address he’ll focus on improving the lives of the poor and fighting corruption.
Stocks rallied on Thursday, with the KSE100 index gaining 0.9 percent at noon in Karachi. The rupee was little changed at 128.05 against the dollar.
One of the first challenges he’ll need to tackle is easing a foreign-reserves crunch. The nation’s buffers have been steadily dwindling as a result of surging imports and debt, forcing the central bank to devalue the currency four times since December. All of that comes against a global backdrop of higher oil prices, trade war tensions and an emerging-market sell-off.
For many Pakistan watchers, a bailout from the International Monetary Fund may be an inevitable next step.
“Painful, as it may be, an IMF program is unavoidable,” said Ehsan Malik, chief executive officer at the Pakistan Business Council in Karachi. “The government and the opposition should unite to use it to address the immediate problem and fundamental flaws that have seen manufacturing’s role in the economy decline.”
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