Pakistan needs to decide source of $12 bn bailout within 6 weeks: Asad Umar

Pakistan's incoming finance minister said the country could turn to the IMF, friendly countries and issue diaspora bonds to bolster the nation's depleting reserves

Pakistan’s incoming finance minister estimates the economy needs more than $12 billion to halt a looming financial crisis, with a decision on where to source the funds to be made within six weeks.

Asad Umar, a former head of Pakistani conglomerate Engro Corp., said the nation’s financing gap is somewhere between $10 billion to $12 billion, though the new government would need a bit extra so it doesn’t “live on the edge,” he said in an interview on Thursday.

“The decision needs to be taken in the next six weeks, the further you go forward the more difficult, the more