ISLAMABAD: According to Dr. Aisha Pasha, the Minister of State for Finance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has rejected Pakistan’s request to waive the condition that $6 billion in additional loans be secured in order to revive the rescue package.
In a statement to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, Pasha said there was no other course of action besides restarting the loan initiative, which had been put on hold since September of last year.
She said Pakistan had asked the international lender to reduce the demand for arranging the $6 billion in external funding based on the most recent account deficit data, but the IMF had refused.
Prior to the staff-level agreement, Pakistan was supposed to arrange $3 billion, and the remaining $3 billion would be arranged following the agreement, but now the Fund has ordered Pakistan to arrange all $6 billion.
She firmly asserted that, in the event that the discussions with the IMF fail to yield any fruitful outcomes, there is no backup plan. The minister was quoted by Tribune as adding, “There is no choice but to return to the IMF, and I categorically say there is no Plan B.”
According to the statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent phone call with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva was unsuccessful because the international lender is still standing its ground.
The state minister stated that the IMF had been given a copy of Pakistan’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2023–2024 and that the government was expecting the lender’s reaction.
