Islamabad: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has said that some… Terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). as “anti-people” and “too harsh” for the people.
Addressing the Geo News Program’Today with Shahzeb Khanzada. Iqbal hinted at further delays in reaching an agreement with the IMF on the ninth review. He said that the IMF program has to be continued but some of the demands of the IMF are unbearable for the people.
He said that the government is trying to negotiate and relax the conditions set by the IMF.
He was asked to provide details regarding ongoing negotiations with the Washington-based lender. Extended 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”.
A time frame of two to three weeks has been given to pave the way for a staff-level agreement and to implement all necessary steps for the release of the $1 billion tranche under the EFF, the report said.
PTI criticized for creating financial crisis.
Iqbal added that the establishment and the judiciary have realized that the four-year experience with Malik has yielded serious results.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leader further said that the PTI government did not make any long-term agreement on gas being cheap. “Yet, when rates went up, they subsidized and plunged the country into a financial crisis,” he said.
The federal minister claimed that 80 percent of Pakistan’s total debt was taken during the tenure of former prime minister Imran Khan, which is now being handled by the current government. 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 public as inflation is already at historic highs, and Pakistan has just suffered a natural disaster that cost $30 billion.