Islamabad: Cash-strapped Pakistan has attributed the IMF's reluctance to restart a delayed rescue programme to geopolitics, claiming that international organisations wanted the nation to default on its sovereign debt, like Sri Lanka, and then engage in negotiations with the global lender.
Ishaq Darsad, the finance minister of Pakistan, said the IMF's demand for a $6 billion guarantee on external resources was unwarranted and that the IMF's delay plan appeared to reflect a political agenda. “Geopolitics is behind a halted loan programme so that Pakistan defaults. Foreign hostile elements want Pakistan to turn into another Sri Lanka and then the IMF negotiates with Islamabad,” Dar said.
Responding to the IMF objection to the tax exemptions given in the recently unveiled budget, the minister said Pakistan is a sovereign country and cannot accept everything from the IMF. “The IMF wants us not to give tax concessions in any sector,” he added. He said no reason had been given by the IMF for the “unnecessary delay” behind the ninth (current) review, which has been pending since last November. “IMF or no IMF, Pakistan will not default,” he added.
The budget presented earlier this month was the last chance for the incumbent government to establish grounds for revival of the IMF programme and reimbursement of a $1. 2 billion instalment, part of the $6. 7-billion bailout package, as the IMF's EFF (extended fund facility) for Pakistan was set to expire on June 30. It didn't take the IMF long to voice significant concerns.