Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar on Saturday said that Pakistan continues to wait for the conclusion of the ninth assessment of the bailout since November last year. He added that the continuous delay in resuming the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program is “unprecedented.”
“There is no technical reason for the delay (in the resumption of the IMF program), which is unprecedented. We are the only one (PML-N) in Pakistan’s history that successfully completed the IMF programme of 2013-16,” said Dar while talking to a delegation from the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) on budget proposals at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) headquarters in Islamabad.
The ninth review of Pakistan’s IMF bailout programme has been postponed, and staff-level agreement negotiations have dragged on due to difficulties in gaining the requisite finance pledges to close the balance of payments shortfall.
Dar on Saturday also said the government has implemented the “most difficult” economic reforms while reiterating that the country would not default.
“Our first priority is there is no delay in the country’s sovereign commitments. Fortunately, there have been no such delays,” said Dar.
The finance minister also slammed “pseudo-intellectuals” who have predicted Pakistan will default. “Some people wish the country to default, but that will not be the case,” he said.
“I assure you: Pakistan is a sovereign country, with trillions of dollars in assets in comparison to $100 billion external debt. Our gas pipeline infrastructure alone is worth $40 billion to $50 billion i.e. 50% of the debt,” he added.
He said that weeks ago, Managing Director IMF Kristalina Georgieva stated that Pakistan will not default.
“I want to reassure you that our economic team remains committed to getting the country out of the current crisis, we will be coming up with new ideas in weeks to come,” said Dar.
