Pakistan

Pakistan has requested financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and talks on a loan program will begin in the next few days, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Oct. 22. IMF and Pakistani authorities have been meeting in Dubai since Oct. 21 to discuss details of the country’s financial restructuring plan. Pakistan needs USD 10 billion to USD 15 billion of support from foreign lenders, the country’s newly appointed economic trouble-shooter said on Oct. 21. (Reuters)