IMF deal not a ‘silver bullet,’ says PM
Soon after the government secured a much-needed $3 billion short-term financial package from IMF, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the new deal is not a silver bullet and expressed the hope that the new programme will “be the last one”.
The new nine-month standby arrangement came hours before an IMF agreement expired on Friday. The IMF’s staff-level deal with Pakistan will now be subject to approval by its board later this month.
Prime Minister Sharif described the deal as a “much-needed breather” but said he prayed for this new programme “to be the last one.”
“This is not a moment of pride, but a moment to think over the reality. Do nations survive on loans? Let us pray that this is the last time that we have secured a loan from IMF and that we should not go to the IMF again,” he told the media in Lahore on Friday after the deal was signed.
He described his meetings with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Paris last week as a “turning point” in a series of recent discussions with the world body.
The economy has been stricken by a balance-of-payments crisis as it attempts to service crippling external debt, while months of political chaos have scared off foreign investment.