Hinting at further delays in reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the ninth review, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said on Monday that some of the fund’s conditions were too strict for the common man and they had to Cannot be accepted.
“Still, the government is trying to negotiate [with the IMF] and reduce the burden on the people,” the federal minister added.
He is in talks with the IMF to ease its conditions for the ongoing review and get the deal finalized.
He was asked to provide details regarding ongoing discussions with the Washington-based lender on the Expanded Fund Facility (EFF).
It was earlier reported that the IMF has shared a list of pre-emptive measures that Pakistani authorities have been asked to move towards implementing in the coming weeks if they are to revive the stalled loan program. want to do
The IMF has told officials that it is time to take “all necessary steps”.
The report said that a time frame of two to three weeks has been given to implement all the necessary steps to pave the way for a staff-level agreement and release the $1 billion tranche under the EFF.
PTI criticized for creating financial crisis.
The Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader further said that the establishment and the judiciary have realized that the four-year experience with the country has yielded serious results.
Ahsan further said that the PTI government did not make any long-term agreement on gas being cheap. Yet, when rates rose, they subsidized and plunged the country into financial crisis.
The federal minister claimed that 80 percent of Pakistan’s total debt was taken during Imran Khan’s tenure, which he now has to handle. He said that the Finance Ministry had said in April that they had no development budget to release for the last quarter of 2021-22.
Ahsan said that when PTI broke the IMF agreement, everyone predicted default. He said that the Muslim League (N) government took politically unpopular decisions and saved the country.
India is also not speculating about Pakistan’s financial crisis, but PTI and Imran Khan have started a war against the country.
He said that the Ministry of Finance is determined to fulfill the conditions of the IMF and resume the loan program. However, they are trying to ease the burden on the people because inflation is already at historic highs, and Pakistan has just suffered a natural disaster that caused $30 billion in losses.
