Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday hinted at his willingness—after months of dithering—to accept the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “tough” conditions to revive a stalled loan program, even if it comes at the cost of his party’s political fortunes.
Addressing a ceremony to launch the Prime Minister’s youth loan scheme for businesses and agriculture, he reiterated that the ruling coalition was ready to sacrifice its politics for the sake of the country, adding the government has clearly conveyed this to the IMF ahead of the ninth review. “We are ready and want to sit down regarding your [IMF’s] conditions so that [review] can be concluded and Pakistan moves forward,” he said, echoing comments he has been making since assuming power in April even as the country’s foreign exchange reserves continue to decline over the government’s inability to take much-needed decisions.
“I spoke to the IMF managing director two weeks ago and we have proactively approached them,” he said, claiming the government wanted to proceed with both the global lender and other multilateral and bilateral programs. Stressing that Pakistan’s “allies” had urged it to revive the IMF program, he claimed they had also made it clear the country would not be abandoned in its hour of need.
According to local media, some of the IMF’s conditions that are proving sticking points for the government are withdrawal of all subsidies, including on electricity, fuel and gas, and a market-determined exchange rate. However, economists warn that all these measure would inevitably unleash a fresh wave of inflation, which the government is hesitant to enforce during an election year, especially as its popularity is on the wane, while rival PTI’s is on the rise.
Stressing that it was time for all Pakistanis—especially the rich—to unite in steering the country out of its present crisis, he said it was not sustainable for the impoverished to be burdened with inflation as the “elites” profited. Urging his countrymen to conserve resources like water, gas and electricity, he said this was essential to reduce the country’s import bill and current account deficit.
Lamenting that two provinces—a likely reference to the former PTI-led governments of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa—had not cooperated with the federal government’s energy conservation plan, he said this was not the time to “play politics.”