Islamabad (Web Desk): Former finance minister and PTI leader Shaukat Tarin has urged the government to renegotiate and seek relief from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in conditions associated with a $6 billion loan programme in the wake of disastrous floods.
The International Monetary Fund Executive board approved a three-year, $6 billion loan package for Pakistan in July 2019 to rein in mounting debts and stave off a looming balance of payments crisis, in exchange for tough austerity measures.
On Monday, two audio clips surfaced via TV channels and social media; in one, the man said to be Tarin can be heard guiding Punjab Finance Minister Mohsin Leghari to tell the federal government and the IMF that he would not be able to commit to a provincial budget surplus in light of the recent floods that have wreaked havoc in Pakistan.
“We only wanted the provincial finance minister to write to the federal government so “pressure falls on these… they’re jailing us, filing terrorism charges against us and they’re going away completely scot-free. We can’t allow this to happen,” the voice purportedly that of Tarin’s is heard telling Leghari.
Earlier, KP Finance Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra had written a letter to the Ministry of Finance Miftah Ismail, informing the federal government that his KP administration might find it difficult to run a provincial surplus this year in view of flood-related damages.
