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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan left for Saudi Arabia to attend an investment conference on the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
FILE PHOTO: Cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan, chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), speaks after voting in the general election in Islamabad, July 25, 2018. REUTERS / Athit Perawongmetha / File Photo
We are desperate for the sake of the future.
It is Khan's second visit to Saudi Arabia in just over a month, but it has not succeeded in securing significant financial assistance to stave off a looming balance of payments crisis.
Khan told the Middle East Eye in an interview published on Monday that he could not agree to meet Saudi leaders again.
"The reason I feel this way is because of a country in which we have a history of poverty."
"Unless we get loans from the world or the IMF (International Monetary Fund), we actually will not be able to do so. So we're desperate at the moment. "
Islamabad has already asked for the country's second potential bailout in five years.
Khan, who took office in July, is in the background of the Islamic welfare state.
The central bank's foreign reserves dropped to $ 8.1 billion, a four-year low and barely enough to cover sovereign debt payments through the end of the year. The current account deficit has swelled to about $ 18 billion.
Khan has blamed the previous government's policies for the ballooning current account deficit.
He told the Middle East that he was concerned about the "shocking" death of Khashoggi, a resident U.S. and Washington Post columnist, after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
"The Saudi government is going to come up with an answer … We wait for whatever the Saudi explanation is," he was quoted as saying. "We hope there is an explanation that satisfies people and those responsible are punished."
Khan also called on Washington to abandon its push for new sanctions against Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival, saying the move could lead to wider conflict.
"The last thing in the world is another conflict. The trump administration is moving towards one, "he told the newspaper.
Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Nick Macfie and Toby Chopra
