TUESDAY MAY 17: Talks with IMF running smoothly

KARACHI: Talks with the International Monetary Fund over the release of a tranche in an $11 billion loan are going smoothly and were unaffected by the arrest of the head of the global lender, a senior finance ministry official said on Monday. Pakistan and an IMF team are holding talks in Dubai until Wednesday.
When asked if the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn for attempted rape in a New York hotel will have any impact on IMF operations in Pakistan or the loan talks, a senior ministry of finance official said "nothing to do with our work, which is going smoothly." The official declined to be identified owing to the sensitivity of the issue. The IMF agreed to an emergency loan for Pakistan in 2008 and has $3 billion left to disburse.