| A sensible decision. |
In an exclusive interview with Geo.tv, the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader dissected the main issues which — evolved during the last year— conked out the critical deal with the IMF, steeping the country in a hydra-headed crisis of ginormous proportions.
| The journalist is still in high school, right? Never have I seen such vocabulary in the professional news media. |
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is
Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
(PTI) Imran Khan
...aka The Great Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree...
was the prime minister and as soon as IMF gives the money, Sheikh gets the axe.
"Shaukat Tarin comes in and tables a budget that has nothing to do with the IMF programme so that was the first time we broke our commitments. Then of course the IMF was not releasing the next tranche. Later, Tarin presented a mini-budget in November [2021] and agreed to a new IMF programme as soon as the money came in February, the Imran Khan government again reduced the prices of petroleum products. At that point, diesel was costing the government over Rs200 per litre and it was selling it for less than Rs150. This was the second time that we broke the commitment."
Recalling the entire journey, Miftah said that in April he came to power and after much difficulty, Pakistain secured the IMF programme again.
"As soon as the money arrived in September I was fired. Dar sahib comes in and says, no I am going to look IMF in the eye and renegotiate this programme and this and that and keep the dollar at an artificially low rate. Our remittances and exports go through the floor and inflation through the roof. So I don’t see the point of all of this and then we began a third agreement with the IMF."
"So now the IMF doesn’t really believe in Pakistain, but would you?" the former finance minister cross-questioned this scribe in a tone that reassured his words.