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Discounted crude offers respite as Pakistan faces an acute balance of payments crisis, risking a default on its debt obligations. The first cargo of discounted Russian crude oil arranged under a new deal struck between Islamabad and Moscow earlier this year arrived in Karachi on Sunday. Pakistan's Refinery Limited (PRL) will initially refine the Russian crude, the minister said. Malik on Monday played down concerns around the financial viability and concerns about the ability of local refineries to process Russian crude given the South Asian country's historical importation of Middle Eastern petroleum products. "No adjustments (were) needed at the refinery to refine the Russian crude," the minister told Reuters.

Persons: Florence Lo, Malik Says, Musadik Malik, Pakistan's, Malik, Ariba Shahid, Asif Shahzad, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Gibran, Philippa Fletcher, Toby Chopra Organizations: REUTERS, ., Karachi . Petroleum, Pakistan, Moscow, Pakistan's Refinery, Monday, Reuters, Energy, United, United Arab Emirates, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Islamabad, ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Karachi, Russia, India, China, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, United Arab

KARACHI, Pakistan, June 2 (Reuters) - Pakistan has passed a special order to allow barter trade with Afghanistan, Iran and Russia for certain goods, including petroleum and natural gas, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday. The government order, called the Business-to-business (B2B) Barter Trade Mechanism 2023 and dated June 1, lists goods that can be bartered. Sajid Amin, deputy director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, said Pakistan could gain particularly from oil and energy imports from Russia and Iran without adding to dollar demand. "While it may not solve currency smuggling, particularly at the Afghanistan border, it can discourage smuggling of goods from Iran, such as diesel, and Afghanistan which is hurting the economy," Amin added. In May, the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association complained that up to 35% of the diesel sold in Pakistan had been smuggled from Iran.

Persons: Sajid Amin, Amin, Pakistan's, Musadik Malik, Malik, Ariba Shahid, Asif Shahzad, Simon Cameron, Moore, David Holmes Organizations: Ministry of Commerce, State, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Reuters, Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association, Thomson Locations: KARACHI, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Russia

KARACHI, Pakistan, April 4 (Reuters) - Pakistan's central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to a record 21% on Tuesday, as the cash-strapped country stepped up its fight against soaring consumer prices. Investors polled by Reuters had expected an even-bigger rate hike of 200 basis point from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which is facing on consumer price inflation that hit a record annual level of just over 35% in March. Worldwide growth in consumer prices has compounded high inflation in Pakistan caused by a weakening currency, energy tariff increases and elevated food prices due to Ramadan. The SBP has hiked the key rate by cumulatively by 1025 bps since January 2022. In early March, the bank raised its key rate by 300 basis points to 20%, exceeding market expectations, likely to meet a key requirement of the IMF for release of bailout funds.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had said last week that the external financing assurance was not one of the IMF's conditions for clearance of the funding. Pakistan has completed almost all other measures needed except for the external financing requirement, officials say. Dar said last week that Pakistan will need $5 billion external financing to close its financing gap this fiscal year ending June 30, adding the IMF believed it should be $7 billion. Dar said hoped more external financing will be coming as Pakistan signs the IMF deal this week. Ruiz noted that the difference in foreign exchange rates between the open and informal markets has been very damaging for Pakistan, resulting in shortages of foreign exchange and consequently imported goods.

The currency's official value closed at 255.4 rupees against the dollar versus 230.9 on Wednesday, the central bank said. Facing an increasingly acute balance of payments crisis, Pakistan is desperate to secure external financing, with less than three weeks worth of import cover in its foreign exchange reserves. Aside from wanting the government to reduce its budget deficit, the IMF is pushing for it to move to a market-determined exchange rate regime. The foreign exchange companies said on Wednesday that they had removed the cap for the sake of the country, because it was causing "artificial" distortions for the economy. Aside from moving towards a market-determined exchange rate, Islamabad has also announced it will take fiscal measures recommended by the IMF.

The Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) said late on Tuesday it was lifting the cap on the currency in the interest of the country. Before the cap on the rupee was removed, markets eyed three different rates to assess its value -- the state bank's official rate, the one assessed by the foreign exchange companies and the black market rate. He said the removal of the cap would curb the black market. "The black market rate is still sticky in the range of 260-270. The decision of exchange companies has not had any impact as such," said Fahad Rauf, Head of Research at Ismail Iqbal Securities.

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