Pakistan is seeking a bailout of $15 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), nearly double of what has been reported so far, due to $5 billion roll-over debt and maturity of $1 billion sukuk in March next year, according to a new report.

"We assume a complete roll-over of the short-term debt, exceeding $5 billion per year. The sukuk, worth $1 billion, maturing in March 2019, may be covered by new issuance of the same size. An IMF programme would also mobilise additional financing from multilateral institutions and bilateral creditors, while borrowing from China could be limited," said Garbis Iradian, head of Research, Institute of International Finance (IIF) for Mena region.

Islamabad is reportedly seeking $8 billion loan package, the largest ever, from the IMF to cope with its balance of payment crisis, falling foreign exchange reserves and prop up its struggling currency. Christine Lagarde, managing director, IMF, confirmed that Pakistan had requested the loans after meeting with Finance Minister Asad Umar in Indonesia, without saying how much the Pakistanis had asked for.

"With the above assumptions, we expect an agreement on a three-year IMF programme by end of this year for $15 billion. Such a package would be enough to increase the official reserves to an adequate level of at least three months of imports," the IIF analyst said in a note.

The study noted that the current account deficit has widened from 1.7 per cent of GDP in 2016 to 5.8 per cent in 2018.

"We expect the current account deficit to narrow to 5.4 per cent of GDP this year and 4.2 per cent next year, supported by a significant improvement in exports from the more competitive exchange rate and a moderation in growth of imports from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor [CPEC] projects," the IIF analyst said.

The Saudi-backed Islamic Development Bank has made an offer of $4 billion in loans to be disbursed over the three-year period.

Comments from a Pakistan government spokesperson was awaited till the filing of this report.

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