Imran Khan-led govt unlikely to implement IMF conditions in budget

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Former finance minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Aisha Ghous Pasha has said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme will likely be suspended because the Imran Khan-led federal government might be unable to implement major conditions of the sponsored programme in its upcoming budget, ANI reports.

Speaking to The News International on Saturday, Pasha, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Member of National Assembly (MNA), said: “The government wants to get the support of the IMF so that it can get loans from other multilateral creditors through comfort letter. The Fund programme is moving towards suspension if the government does not implement conditions in the upcoming budget.”

She highlighted that if the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government went ahead with the IMF conditions, including a hike in electricity tariff by 30 per cent, fetching additional revenues by Rs 1 trillion, and ensuring autonomy to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), then political revolt could occur in Pakistan.

Comparing the development spending in Punjab during the previous and current administrations, Pasha said that the utilisation of development spending in Punjab stood at 470 billion in 2017-18 and then it decreased to Rs 242 billion next year in 2018-19 under the PTI regime.

She said that there were major flaws in policy making and execution as it seemed that kids were running the economy of the country, reported The News International.

The PML-N MNA said that devaluation was done in haste and the discount rate hiked it, resulting in doubling of the debt servicing. She also lambasted that the incumbent government did not allow anyone to work in a calm atmosphere as several finance ministers and secretary finance got changed, with the sword of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) hanging over their heads.

This government, she said, went to IMF without having proper homework and that per capita income had declined under the PTI-led regime. Furthermore, unemployment had risen as life standards deteriorated.

Pakistan’s opposition parties had earlier slammed the federal government’s announcement of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, estimating that it would hit 3.94 per cent for the fiscal year 2020-21.

The government had earlier estimated a GDP growth of 2.1 per cent for the outgoing fiscal year. The IMF and the World Bank, on the other hand, had predicted the GDP growth in the range of 1.5 per cent for the current fiscal year, reported The News International.