Before the current fiscal year ends, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb hopes to reach an agreement with the IMF on a bigger, medium-term agreement. He hopes to cross the finish line in time as well. By the end of FY24, he hoped to have an agreement with the Fund at the staff level for the new programme.
He claims that in recent correspondence, Pakistan has requested a larger plan, and the lender has been “very receptive” to that request. “It is our desire that by the time we wrap up this fiscal year a [agreement] is reached,” he stated, adding that there was still no final decision. He has maintained time and again that Pakistan needs to be under IMF supervision for the next three years at the very least in order to “execute” the long-overdue structural adjustments to the economy. The finance minister appears to have gained the lender’s goodwill as well, and it is hoped that the forthcoming discussions about the new loan programme on the fringes of the spring meetings of the Bretton Woods institutions would open the door for an early completion of the new loan programme.
It appears that some circles are attempting to undermine the minister’s standing in the cabinet at a time when he needs the support of the entire government to pull off the important pact and carry out strict economic reforms over the next few years. It appears that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is attempting to limit Mr. Aurangzeb’s influence over decision-making by appointing Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to the crucial Council of Common Interests and keeping him off of it. Regretfully, he has been marginalised on multiple occasions since the new government was formed a month ago. Mr. Sharif opted a few days ago to chair the ECC, the highest policymaking forum, defying convention. He only gave the position to the finance minister in response to intense criticism.
What precisely is the foreign minister supposed to add to the council’s discussions in the instance of the CCI? However, the finance minister’s membership in the CCI, the highest constitutional body tasked with debating and making decisions on issues pertaining to the federation and the provinces, is extremely important at this time because the federating units’ active participation is necessary to execute a number of IMF programme goals and policy reforms.
The CCI is the ideal platform for gaining the provinces’ support for the IMF programme and reforms. In the interest of the nation as a whole, one can only hope that common reason will win over and the prime minister would replace Mr. Dar with his finance minister in the CCI.
