| Headline: Up against the wall Source: Euromoney Date: June 2000 Author: Nick Kochan Pakistan's new military-backed leaders are about to put the country through austerity none of its democratically elected governments have dared to impose. They are talking tough on default, fraud and the tax take and so far have won the confidence of domestic business. But the first task is to renegotiate with foreign creditors - at government, multilateral and private sector levels. Nick Kochan reports
Quite how long the people will believe the technocrats and businessmen parachuted into power by the army, and how far this already poor country will go with the tough medicine, are the tests of this latest rescue bid. For the moment, Pakistan is up against the wall and if it cannot agree a rescheduling of its $38 billion of outstanding debt before the end of this year it will be unable to meet its payments to the international agencies. |