While the financial system is well prepared for the new year, the best-laid plans could be threatened if the public were to over-react to Year 2000 concerns. For this reason, given our mandate to maintain the stability of the financial system, we are directing a lot of resources to ensure a smooth transition.
It is not implied that these actions did not make any economic sense or were not justified in Pakistan’s own economic interests but the important point to note is that all these actions had to be completed within a period of 12-15 months in order to qualify for the Stand-by-Arrangements (SBA), balance of payments support loans from ADB and World Bank and rescheduling of external debt owed to bilateral creditors.