New York: The New York City administration has taken on rent Pakistan's famous Roosevelt Hotel for three years, bringing in $220 million for the nation's struggling finances. According to aviation minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, the New York administration would pay up to $210 in rent for each of the 1,025 rooms in the century-old hotel owned by the state-run Pakistan International Airlines Corp.
The hotel had to be shut due to financial losses after the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The New York city government will now use it for “immigrant housing business,” Pakistan’s finance ministry said in a statement. The development comes when PM Shehbaz Sharif is trying for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund to avoid a default amid the nation’s depleting foreign exchange reserves.
Even after the hotel was closed, Pakistan continued to pay $25 million in taxes and salaries each year. The country anticipates that the agreement will assist it in paying off all of its debts, including the reconciliation of the $66 million asked by the hotel union. Deloitte had already suggested that the site's greatest use would be to be redeveloped into a mixed-use area through a joint venture.
Debt swells
The Pakistan government’s total debt has increased 34.1% year-on-year to Rs 58.6 trillion in April, according to the latest report by the central bank. The increase was 2.6% on a month-on-month basis, ‘Dawn’ reported. In April, the total debt was Rs 36.5 trillion (62.3%), with Rs 22 trillion being the 37.6% share of the total debt that was external. The State Bank of Pakistan's report showed that the annual increase in external debt remained 49.1%.