Amid deepening economic crisis and delay in rollout of bailout packages, Pakistan’s rupee on Thursday crashed to an all-time low of over 200 to a US dollar.

Pakistan has resumed talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package but the stringent riders attached may be difficult for the Shehbaz Sharif government to implement.

The multilateral lender wants Pakistan to roll back fuel and electricity subsidies but Finance Minister Miftah Ismail is hoping to find a “middle ground".

The cash strapped nation has also decided to impose a ban on imports of several non-essential and luxury items.

Also read: Pakistan headed for bankruptcy as bailout packages get delayed

Quoting sources, Geo News said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has imposed a ban on the import of non-essential items that are not used by the common man. “The decision is said to be important to control the dollar flight,” the newspaper said.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan just before being voted out of power, slashed prices of petrol and other commodities till the Budget Session in June. The subsidies would cost about $2.1 billion to the exchequer. Though the move, which violated the IMF conditions, came under severe criticism, the Sharif government has not rolled it back yet.

Former finance minister and a senior Pakistan Muslim League member Ishaq Dar who described the current economic crisis as pandemic II, said that the crisis needs to be taken head-on.

Dar also said that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif does not want the people of Pakistan to be further burdened by inflation.

Besides high inflation, devaluing currency, rising debt coupled with a surge in import bill and depleting foreign exchange reserves have hit Pakistan which is inching towards bankruptcy.