ISLAMABAD – A foreign court granted a pending suspension of a final ruling on a $5. 8 billion fine imposed on Pakistan for rejecting a mining lease to an Australian company, an adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister said Friday.
Pakistan had appealed the sanction imposed through the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and said it would impede control of the country that opposes the coronavirus pandemic. The case is testing Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ability to use consecutive international relations. to resolve disputes and continue efforts to attract more foreign investors to their impoverished country.
The fine, of nearly $ 6 billion, adding damages and interest, would equal about 2% of Pakistan’s GDP and equates to a $ 6 billion ransom the country received last year from the International Monetary Fund. Experts have questioned the reasoning for this massive award, which is more than twice the largest similar arbitration award in a case between Dow Chemical and Kuwait Petrochemical Corp.
Saleem Bajwa, Khan’s adviser, tweeted Friday that the court’s ruling was a “great relief” for Pakistan. The resolution was also hailed as a “success” in a general prosecutor’s workplace report on Thursday night. they were in a position to take into account an agreement pending a final ruling on the award, which might not take a position until next year.
On Friday he declined to comment in response to a request from The Associated Press.
The sanction focused on Pakistan’s cancellation of Reko Diq mining for australian Tethyan Copper Corp. , a 50/50 joint venture of Barrick Gold Corp. .
The Reko Diq district of Balochistan Province in southwestern Pakistan is famous for its mineral wealth, in gold and cop in line with Khan’s government, which sees it as a strategic national asset, especially as commodity costs soar, with gold recently exceeding $2,000 relative to ounce. Since then, the government has set up its own company to expand the mine.
Tethyan had invested $220 million in Reko Diq in 2011, when Pakistan ended its mining lease. The corporation applied to the court the following year, which ruled in opposition to Pakistan in 2017.
Paying a refund equivalent to 40% of Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves would have been a challenge as it struggled to revive its economy. The coronavirus pandemic ignited more than 300,000 of the country’s 212 million people and killed more than 6,400, while the economy for the first time in decades in the fiscal year ended in June.