Pakistan puts its US Embassy property up for sale

Pakistan has been forced to put a section of its embassy in the US up for sale due to a deepening economic crisis in the country.

The Pakistani Embassy put the building located on R Street NW in Washington on the market earlier this month. It is one of the three diplomatic properties owned by Pakistan in Washington. Between the 1950s and the 2000s, the building housed the defence section of its embassy.

So far, Pakistan has received three bids for the building, The highest bid of $6.8 million has been made by a Jewish group that wants to build a synagogue in the building.

The second highest bid at $5 million was made by an Indian realtor, while a Pakistani realtor is at third with a bid of about $4 million, according to a report by the Pakistani newspaper Dawn.

"We are in no rush, and we will conclude a deal only if it benefits Pakistan," said an embassy official.

The officials said that they have been consulting an appraiser to assess whether the building should be sold after the renovation or in its current state. The diplomatic status of the building was revoked in 2018, which made it taxable according to US laws.

The country has also decided to lease their Roosevelt Hotel site in New York. Pakistan's Cabinet Committee on Privatisation has asked the privatisation commission to appoint a financial adviser to carry out the same.

The sale comes in the backdrop of Pakistan's debt reaching PKR 60 trillion. The country is amidst a long-brewing economic crisis. It desperately needs money to avert the crisis. The political uncertainty and devastating floods in the summer have only exacerbated the situation.

Pakistan's currency has weakened by more than 27 percent this year. A top Japanese investment bank has said that Pakistan is among the seven countries threatened by a currency crisis over the next 12 months.

The country's current embassy in the US is in a new building constructed in the early 2000s.