Although $200 million from Asian Development Bank received by the government as one-time assistance on Thursday has come handy, the size of amount the country expects to get from IMF as first tranche is highly important and crucial for putting the country on a better footing in facing pressures of balance of payments.
The sources said that President Asif Ali Zardari has given his consent to the draft of the Letter of Intent (LoI) and it would be sent to the Fund after it is signed by prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
The sources also said that Advisor on Finance Shaukat Tarin has been told by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities during his recent trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai that it would not like to make any financial commitment to "brotherly" country until it formally applied for an IMF credit facility.
The sources said that Tarin had urged the UAE authorities to ask its central bank to help offset Pakistan''''s financial crisis on the pattern of European Central Bank which had rushed to bail out Hungary by providing the European country a massive dose of liquidity.
In addition to a request for a generous financial support at the forum of Friends of Pakistan, the sources said, Tarin had also requested UAE to also work towards giving a relaxation in the oil payments on deferred payment mode on a bilateral basis.
Sources said that Tarin had been told by the UAE government that it would seriously look into Pakistan''''s request at the forum of Friends of Pakistan scheduled to be held on November 17 at Dubai.