MUZAFFARABAD       -        Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reiterated that the country is facing major financial challenges while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ‘combing every book’ and ‘every subsidy’ during the ongoing negotiations for the loan revival.

“The IMF is looking critically at every book, be it petroleum, finance, commerce or the power sector,” the premier said. “They are looking at each and everything. Every subsidy,” the PM said this while addressing the AJK Assembly here yesterday.

The IMF delegation, headed by Nathan Porter, and the government of Pakistan are engaged in talks these days for the revival of 9th review. The prime minister shed light on how the country has been on a “begging spree”, calling for it to be stopped once and for all. “We have to stay alive but only how alive nations live and not by begging,” he said. “This has been going on for 75 years. We have to put a stop to this.” The premier vowed to break “this habit of begging” that country was embroiled in. “This will stop when the entire nation [stands] united to fight inflation and vows to produce their own resources,” he said. “It was very easy to say so but doing it was harder. We deliver speeches but after an hour I forget what I had said.”