Washington: The US is demanding “full transparency” over China’s debt on cash-strapped Pakistan, the Trump Administration told lawmakers amid concerns that Islamabad is seeking a multibillion-dollar bailout package from the IMF to pay back Chinese creditors.
Pakistan last month requested the bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with a mounting balance-of-payments crisis.
“The IMF team just came back from Pakistan. One of the things we’re pushing hard for is full transparency of the debt,” Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs David Malpass told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing.
Malpass was responding to a query on Pakistan-specific Chinese debt from Senator Jeff Merkley during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Multilateral and International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic Energy and Environmental Policy.
Senator Merkley, a ranking member of the subcommittee had asked if IMF funds are essentially being used to repay Chinese debt. “Pakistan is a good example of a country that has a significant amount of Chinese investment. I think the number I have is USD 62 billion. They owe a lot of money back to China, Chinese banks, and they’re seeking an IMF bailout. I think it’s a USD 12 billion bailout. They have asked the US to make sure that we don’t block this,” the Senator from Oregon said.
Pakistan is a major recipient of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a multi-billion-dollar initiative launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping. (PTI)
