KARACHI , March 23, 2023: Blaming Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for sabotaging the deal, PML-N leader Miftah Ismail claimed that International Monetary Fund (IMF) was not interested in releasing money to Pakistan as the Washington-based lender had no trust in Islamabad government.
Speaking during a session titled ‘Pakistan in the Midst of Crisis’ organised by a private university in Karachi, former finance minister said when he was heading the Ministry of Finance he spoke to the IMF officials and assured them that Paki¬stan would not make false statements or violate the agreement; however, when Ishar Dar was sworn in ‘he sabotaged the agreement’.
He recalled that Pakistan had three times made sovereign commitments and then backtracked on them. “Now the IMF is not interested in giving money to Pakistan,” he said, emphasising that the Fund doesn’t trust the government in Islamabad.
Pakistan continues to woo the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure the much-needed bailout from the global lender. Pakistan is now the only South Asian country that’s yet to secure a bailout from the multilateral lender as Sri Lanka clinched financing this week and Bangladesh pushes on with carrying out IMF-mandated reforms.
Pakistan has taken tough measures including increasing taxes and energy prices, and allowing its currency to weaken to restart a $6.5 billion IMF loan package. The funds will offer some relief to a nation still reeling from a dollar shortage that has raised the probability of the economy slipping into a recession ahead of elections this year.
Regarding the petrol relief subsidy announced by the government on Sunday, Miftah said that he believed this formula would not be effective. “We provide subsidies on petrol by taking loans,” he said.
Miftah warned that if Pakistan defaulted it would have grave consequences for the country as people belonging to the rich segment will bear the brunt but the poor people won’t be able to make ends meet.
