Pakistan may call for additional annual aid of up to $5 billion over the next five years to fight terrorism and alleviate poverty, the adviser on finance to Pakistan's prime minister said Friday in Tokyo.
"Terrorism is definitely affecting economic activities and investment in the country," Shaukat Tarin, who arrived in Japan Wednesday for a four-day visit, told a press briefing. The finance expert said the annual costs of fighting the drug-funded Taliban amount to $1.5 billion alone.
Although the International Monetary Fund last year agreed to provide Pakistan a financing package of $7.6 billion, Tarin said the amount is insufficient to balance the country's payment difficulties.
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