By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : In what could be seen as a major confidence building measure, India has said it will support Pakistan government’s efforts to tide over a serious financial crunch by backing Islamabad’s plan to seek help from the IMF.
“I wish the new democratic government in Pakistan well. We would like them to succeed,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters on board his special aircraft while returning home from a two-nation trip to Japan and China Saturday evening.
“Pakistan is in serious difficulties and is going to the IMF. We will support Pakistan getting help from the IMF,” said Singh, who met his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Beijing on the margins of the ASEM Summit on Friday.
Singh said he and Gilani discussed “all issues having a bearing on our bilateral relations and I would say that there was a near complete meeting of mind.”
The Prime Minister’s remarks came as Pakistan is facing a major economic crisis with plunging foreign exchange reserves and high inflation.
The rating agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded the country’s sovereign debt to level of ‘CCC-plus’, close to defaulting on its commitments of external loan repayment.
Islamabad is seeking loans from international donor funds and member states of ‘Friends of Pakistan’ group, which will convene a meeting next month in the UAE.