Washington - The United States has welcomed International Monetary Fund’s decision to provide Pakistan a loan of over $6 billion, and pledged continued support to the country’s efforts for economic reforms.
But State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf parried a question at the daily noon briefing that whether the US would give additional aid to Pakistan to help overcome its financial crisis.
“I don’t have anything new to announce for you today. Clearly, this is a very important issue between our two countries, and if we have anything new to announce, I will let you know,” she told reporters on Friday.
Asked to comment on IMF’s multiyear $6.7 billion loan, Harf said, “The new Pakistani government, as you know, has cited economic revitalisation and reform as a top priority. We continue to support the government of Pakistan to work to stabilise the economy as Pakistan confronts its own economic challenges.”
The spokesperson noted that Secretary of State John Kerry talked about this during his visit recently.”We will continue to support Pakistan’s reform efforts,” Harf added.
“We’ll continue to advance our bilateral trade and investment partnership and look to Pakistan’s civilian leadership to determine the direction of these efforts, including their recent agreement, as you mentioned, with the IMF,” concluded the spokesperson.