Finance Minister Ishaq Dar clarified that Pakistan was not going to the Paris Club for rescheduling its loans.

“Pakistan will ensure payments of its national sovereign debt liabilities well in time,” the finance czar said speaking to the media in Islamabad on Sunday, adding that a strategy had been evolved in this regard.

Dar also rejected speculations about any extension in the maturity of an international bond of the country. He said that bond is being matured in December this year and we will not seek its extension and all the payments in this regard will be made timely.

The finance minister also clarified that we are not going to renegotiate the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme. “Pakistan is a sovereign country and all international commitments will be fulfilled,” he added.

The minister said that prior to current program with the IMF, the PML-N-led government had completed a program with the fund in 2016. “This time too, the government protected all the agreements done with the monetary fund.”

The 9th review with IMF is scheduled on October 25, he said adding that all the previous commitments would be completed to successfully complete the program second time, besides maintaining the reputation of the country in international market.

Dar said that all Letters of Credit (LC) payments up to $50,000 will be released by November, 2022.

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has received complaints from the business community in which they said that their shipments were stopped arriving, LCs opened and there was not any mechanism for the payment due to unavailability of credit,” the minister said.

The minister said that the total pending cases of LC payments were 7,952 and 4,400 of them would be resolved after the decision. “The government is committed to address concerns of the business community,” he added.

On the Special directives of Prime Minister, longstanding issue of export-oriented industry of the country was also addressed and now 05 export oriented industries would be provided Rs19.99 per unit, adding that it would help to flourish the exports from the country and attract foreign exchange for the country.

Regarding the recent Moody’s Credit rating, the minister said that they had complied report in haste, adding that the ministry had submitted its response on its press release.

Dar said that Pakistan had faced even the worse economic challenges during the time of nuclear test in 1998 and it came out from the crisis, adding that all the challenges faced now would also be over come.