IMF agreement a much-needed breather for Pakistan, says PM

Shehbaz Sharif hopes new bailout deal to be last one for Pakistan n Says nations are not built through loans n Clarifies the Fund has nothing to do with CPEC or Pak-China ties n Says Imran Niazi breached IMF agreement to hurt Pakistan’s credibility.

LAHORE   -   Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif said Satur­day that the IMF Stand-by Agreement (SBA) is a much-needed breath­er, which would help Pakistan achieve eco­nomic stability.

He expressed these views in a lengthy tweet while referring to the core argument in his presser at Lahore on the occasion of signing of the Stand-by-Agree­ment. The prime minis­ter said the nations are not built through loans, praying for the new programme to be the last one for Pakistan.

He said an Economic Revival Plan had been worked out under a whole-of-the-govern­ment approach, which would focus on unlock­ing the strategic poten­tial in agriculture, mine and minerals, defence production and infor­mation technology. The prime minister said the plan would bring up in­vestments of billions of dollars and create job opportunities for four million people. Howev­er, he said it might be a tough journey.

The prime minister also expressed his spe­cial thanks to friends and partners such as China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Islamic Develop­ment Fund for standing by Pakistan at the time of massive economic challenges.

Also, Prime Minis­ter Shehbaz Sharif Fri­day said that dedicated efforts by all the state institutions to execute the Economic Reviv­al Plan and sacrifice by the elite class were in­evitable to ensure that the latest IMF programme signed by the government was the last one. “(With the signing of stand-by agreement) The risk of Pakistan’s default has been averted. This is not a moment of pride but a moment of thought as nations never progress on the basis of loans… This is not a way to live a life,” the prime minister told reporters during a press conference.

Accompanied by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Informa­tion Minister Marriyum Au­rangzeb and Punjab Gover­nor Balighur Rehman, he said the situation necessitated the sacrifice by the elite class, not the common man who had al­ready lost the purchasing pow­er. “The people should pray that this is the last IMF loan and Pa­kistan will not have to go back to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) again,” he said af­ter he witnessed the signing of the $3 billion stand-by agree­ment with the Fund. Citing the success of Turkey and a neigh­bouring country to get rid of the IMF loans, the prime minis­ter said Pakistan was rich with immense resources, and the po­tential to progress and over­come economic challenges.

He told the newsmen that the government had recently un­veiled an Economic Revival Plan to get rid of loans and stabilize the economy through a “com­prehensive” programme of en­hancing investment in agricul­ture, mining and information technology, and boosting ex­ports. Mentioning the unneces­sary impediments in the explo­ration of Chiniot ore and Reko Diq, the prime minister said the Economic Revival Plan would help bring in investment from the Gulf states to make Paki­stan progress. He said formulat­ed by the Federal Government in collaboration with the Chief of Army Staff and provincial governments, the Plan was en­visaged to provide around four million jobs. He said the IMF agreement followed months of negotiations which ended with a positive outcome.

Calling the agreement a major step, the prime minister hoped that the country would start receiving money after the IMF Board meeting scheduled for July 12. He thanked IMF Manag­ing Director Kristalina Georgie­va and her team for showing se­riousness, particularly after his meeting in Paris, besides appre­ciating Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his team for their un­tiring efforts to achieve the ob­jective. About his talks with the IMF chief last week, PM Sheh­baz said he apprised her of the government’s success to ful­fill all of the Fund’s conditions even at the cost of political cap­ital just to save Pakistan from defaulting. The IMF MD raised concerns about the external fi­nancing gap of $2bn, follow­ing which he asked the finance minister to make a “final effort” to address the IMF’s doubts. He told the media of his sub­sequent meeting with the Is­lamic Development Bank head who later committed $1bn in funds for Pakistan. The prime minister said he again met the IMF chief who reassured him of moving forward together. He said their meeting in Paris proved to be an “ice-breaking and turning point”. Lambasting the previous government’s eco­nomic performance, the prime minister said till 2018 under Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s government, Pakistan was pro­gressing which was even recog­nized by the “worst critics” as the growth rate was at 6.2%. Be­sides, he added, the country had joined the fast-developing na­tions as 20-hour load shedding had come to an end, CPEC (Chi­na Pakistan Economic Corridor) was being implemented swift­ly, and power and road projects were being executed. Then, he said, Imran Niazi was brought to rule through the “worst rigging” who, brutally breached the IMF agreement to hurt Pakistan’s trust and credibility.

He said the previous govern­ment had also showed “criminal negligence” by not availing the chance to purchase LNG (liq­uefied natural gas) at $3 during the COVID pandemic. The in­cumbent coalition government, he said, signed an LNG deal with Azerbaijan on easy terms. It also purchased wheat and fertiliz­ers from the lowest bidders and even got further discounts of billions of rupees. Amidst all the efforts, a panic was being creat­ed to destabilize and defame the country, and even Pakistan was likened to the defaulted Sri Lan­ka, he added. Contrary to that, he said, the Sri Lankan presi­dent supported Pakistan before the IMF chief while in Paris. The prime minister also lauded the Chinese role to save Pakistan from default, besides appreci­ating the support by Saudi Ara­bia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Islamic Develop­ment Bank. Calling it the dark­est day in the country’s history, the prime minister said May 9 incidents were part of the con­spiracy against the country car­ried out in connivance with the local and foreign anti-state ele­ments. To a question, he said no innocent person would be hurt for the May 9 arson. Those who attacked civilian installations would be tried in anti-terrorism courts and others in the military courts for attacking the military installations, he explained.

He also appreciated the role of Chief of the Army Staff Gen­eral Asim Munir for his engage­ment with the Saudi and UAE governments to bring in $2 bil­lion and $1 billion from the two friendly countries respectively. To a question, PM Shehbaz clar­ified that the IMF agreement would in no way impact CPEC or Pak-China ties. He assured the newsmen that while being in any role, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader­ship would continue to strive for rendering sacrifices to sup­port the national economy.

Asked about any relief for the common man after the IMF agreement, the prime minister said the plan was not a “sweet”, rather it was a tool to stabi­lize the economy and strength­en the engagement with inter­national institutions. However, he expressed the hope that in­flation would come down and the country would regain its lost status of a fast-developing nation. He said it was the time for the elite to face most of the hardships. Even in the last bud­get, the incumbent government had imposed the super tax on the elite class and did not bow to their pressure for reversal.

About the austerity mea­sures, he said some of the ministers and parliamentari­ans were not drawing salaries and also appreciated the Sen­ate chairman for agreeing not to pursue the bill providing for increasing his perks. He said the government would car­ry forward its laptop scheme and planned to distribute an­other 100,000 laptops among the students in next fiscal year. Responding to another que­ry, the prime minister said Nawaz Sharif and his daughter faced jails and appeared before courts on a daily basis without seeking adjournments, unlike Imran Niazi. He assured that Nawaz Sharif would come back soon from abroad as he had gone there for medical treat­ment. Briefing media about the government’s plan to out­source the Islamabad Inter­national Airport, he said the state-owned entities were eat­ing up around Rs 600 billion annually. He said the govern­ment would confine its role to the policy-making and facilita­tion of the investors. The prime minister said the people of Pa­kistan would decide the fate of those who pushed the country to default. He said after being disqualified, Nawaz Sharif had never uttered a word against the country, but contrarily, Im­ran Niazi acted as an enemy of the state after being removed (from the prime minister’s of­fice) through a constitutional process. To another question, PM Shehbaz said the incum­bent government would give up on completion of its term, how­ever, it would be up to the Elec­tion Commission of Pakistan to announce the election date.