ISLAMABAD - Dissatisfied with the economic situation of Pakistan, International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday the Fund was not going to write off or reschedule Islamabad’s loans. Head of the International Monitory Fund mission in Pakistan, Jeffrey Frank said IMF does not reschedule or write-off loan of any country, therefore, it would not entertain any request (if made) by Pakistan in this regard. Talking to mediamen here, Jeffrey Frank said Pakistan had not formally requested the IMF for a fresh bailout package. Fresh loan programme could be given to interim government with the consent of country’s political leadership and provincial governments. “If Islamabad intends to seek a new program it will have to bring a radical change in economic strategy as losses incurred by government institutions failed the current economic strategy,” noted the Fund in the recent talks.He noted that Pakistan’s major problem was ‘energy, energy and energy’. Head of the International Monitory Fund mission said energy shortage was a serious threat to economic growth of the country. He said country’s budget deficit went up due to the power sector’s line losses and theft. Pakistan’s budget deficit rose to 7.5 per cent of the GDP (Rs 1,624 billion) during the ongoing financial year 2012-2013 against the government’s target of 4.7 per cent of the GDP (Rs 1,110 billion). There would be need of billions of dollars in revenue to bridge the soaring budget deficit of the country during the present financial year.The economic growth would be around 3.5 per cent in ongoing fiscal year against the government’s target of 4.2 per cent, the Fund noted. The IMF mission chief said that taxation on agriculture, retail and services sectors should be made more effective. Tax exemption and concessions should be done away with, as government was providing billion of rupees tax exemptions. Jeffrey Frank was of the view that Pakistan will have to change its economic strategy if it wanted to enter into a fresh bailout package to build the foreign exchange reserves. State Bank Pakistan held reserves below $ 9 billion, which were sufficient for only three months of imports. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves recorded at $13.782 billion during the week ending on January 11. The official reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan recorded at $8.950 billion and net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $4.831 billion.Pakistan has to repay around $1.7 billion to the IMF in the remaining five and half months of FY 12-13 and another $3.4 billion in the subsequent fiscal year that would further deplete the foreign exchange reserves leaving no other option than to approach the Fund for fresh bailout package. “There will be need to approach IMF within ongoing year 2013 to improve balance of payments situation but timeframe in this regard has not been finalised yet, as political leadership has to take any decision in this regard,” said an official of finance ministry. Pakistan and IMF held talks in Islamabad under Post-Programme Monitoring from January 8 to 18, as the Fund mission reviewed Islamabad’s capacity to repay the loans. Post-Programme Monitoring mission of IMF reviews the Pakistan’s capacity to repay the loans after every six months.It might be mentioned here that IMF reviewed the capacity of loan approved under Stand-By-Arrangement (SBA) in 2008. Pakistan entered into a $7.6 billion IMF bailout package in 2008, which was increased to $11.3 billion but the country was not eligible for the last two disbursements of $3.4 billion due to failure to comply with the performance criteria. The government failed to bring reforms in General Sales Tax (GST) and power sector, owing to which the Fund suspended its programme.