Pakistan PM Sharif says another long-term IMF bailout inevitable

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday that a long-term bailout from the International Monetary Fund (MF) was inevitable for the broken economy.

The comments came a day after the IMF said it had agreed a provisional or staff-level agreement with Islamabad which, if approved by its board, will disburse the last tranche of $1.1 billion under the $3 billion standby arrangement.

"We hope to get the $1.1 bln IMF tranche next month," he told a meeting in Islamabad which was broadcast live, adding: "The country's economy couldn't survive without yet another IMF program."