Pakistan 'Will Have to Agree' to IMF Conditions for Bailout, PM Says

[epebble]

happens to every country that went to bed with China. This fate of Pakistan was predictable. Srilanka got screwed and Pakistan too.
So called iron brother is conspicuously absent from any topic related to salvaging Pakistan from financial collapse.
Wonder if such dire terms would have been required had IMF thought moneys were redirected to pay guaranteed returns and interest payments to China on so called CPEC 'projects'

CPEC was sold as beneficial 3 ways to Pakistan - port traffic (Gwadar), road infra and electricty. After 10 years Gwadar is near empty and unable to self sutain. Pakistan has little to show on the electricity grid (in spite of demand being low due to little to no expansion of manufacturing and industry). I don't know about roads, may be they are there.

On the contrary China has benefited 3 ways.
- Guranteed interest payments on loans - In facts last several years loans from GCC and elsewhere were used to service Chinese payments
- Guranteed operational profits ! - yes, whether electricity was wasted or used, whether it was even generated or not, Chinese profits accrued
- Guaranteed project awards - project outlays that included hefty 'project cost margins' - I strongly suspect these were deducted upfront from so called 'chinese investments'

The tragedy is full terms of CPEC have not been made public.

But we see the results. I M F

I am no friend of PRC, but I think your argument is somewhat one sided. PRC agreed to invest in infrastructure when practically no investment was available to Pakistan for infrastructure due to various issues, not the least of which were poor creditworthiness and difficulty working with Pakistani government and society. For example, do you even know how many Chinese engineers and other workers were murdered by terrorists in Pakistan? You know about Piotr Stanczak, Priyantha Diyawadanage etc., The risk premium of doing anything is very high, especially for foreigners.

 

[SQ8]

You don't know me at all. So perhaps not wise to judge as to where I belong. Rest assured I am more Pakistani than 90% that live in Pakistan for they are desperate to leave but have no way out. Even the rulers rule pakistan from London.
We cannot compare with prophets etc. But Pakistan is a mess and there is no Islam there. GOD has a way of really shaking the people b4 correcting them.. our stakeout is happening I fear

Why would I know you and where is the judgment? You provided judgement on every military family yet I suggested a more nuanced approach. Still, you are irrelevant to me(and vice versa) and regardless of who you are and are not; what matters is the present inhabitants of Pakistan, its leaders and what everything points to - which is technically utter ruin but unfortunately due to last ditch efforts to delay the inevitable people are either assuming things will work out because they might get another 5 years or people are trying to basically eat other before their respective day of judgement.

 

[Trango Towers]

Why would I know you and where is the judgment? You provided judgement on every military family yet I suggested a more nuanced approach. Still, you are irrelevant to me(and vice versa) and regardless of who you are and are not; what matters is the present inhabitants of Pakistan, its leaders and what everything points to - which is technically utter ruin but unfortunately due to last ditch efforts to delay the inevitable people are either assuming things will work out because they might get another 5 years or people are trying to basically eat other before their respective day of judgement.

You are correct ... we don't nniw each other and never will.

Still let pray for Pakistan that good men prevail

 

[Strigon]

Loans and bailouts, the Pakistani addiction…

 

[ZeEa5KPul]

Loans and bailouts, the Pakistani addiction…

TIL this fun fact:

Pakistan has been a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 1950. Due to the unpredictable nature of its economy and its dependence on imports, the IMF has provided loans to Pakistan on twenty-two occasions, with its most recent being in 2019.

That means on average, Pakistan receives an IMF loan once every 2 years and 9 months (the first received in 1958).

 

[Menace2Society]

That means on average, Pakistan receives an IMF loan once every 2 years and 9 months (the first received in 1958).

Regular paydays for the ruling elite. They make more money with a poor IMF addicted Pakistan than a prosperous one.

That's over 60 years! Can you believe they couldn't think of a way of increasing revenue and exports in 60 years! Pathetic.

Even worse these Bhuttos/Zardaris have literally been ruling Sindh all this time, completely unaccountable, like a monarchy.

 

[That Guy]

The IMF asked for transparency regarding high level officials' assets.

This is what he calls "beyond imagination ".

 

[Catalystic]

The IMF asked for transparency regarding high level officials' assets.

This is what he calls "beyond imagination ".

Hopefully imf goes at these elites and those with assets beyond means. Seems pdm has an issue with this as it exposes them good

Imf please also cancel the vip protocols and security of the pdm rats

 

[epebble]

The IMF asked for transparency regarding high level officials' assets.

This is what he calls "beyond imagination ".

Actually, it is more like IMF wants Pakistan budget to use proper arithmetic like 2 + 3 = 5 and not funny math like 2 + 3 = 7, that was the tradition. PM Sharif says proper arithmetic is 'Unimaginable' and 'Beyond imagination'. Actually, his imagination does not stay on the ground but hovers in the stratosphere.

 

[SeaMermaid]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621855029828403200

Actually, it is more like IMF wants Pakistan budget to use proper arithmetic like 2 + 3 = 5 and not funny math like 2 + 3 = 7, that was the tradition. PM Sharif says proper arithmetic is 'Unimaginable' and 'Beyond imagination'. Actually, his imagination does not stay on the ground but hovers in the stratosphere.

 

[my2cents]

View attachment 914965
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Friday the government would have to agree to IMF bailout conditions that are "beyond imagination."

An International Monetary Fund delegation landed in Pakistan on Tuesday for last-ditch talks to revive vital financial aid that has stalled for months.

The government has held out against tax rises and subsidy slashing demanded by the IMF, fearful of backlash ahead of elections due in October.

"I will not go into the details but will only say that our economic challenge is unimaginable. The conditions we will have to agree to with the IMF are beyond imagination. But we will have to agree with the conditions," Sharif said in televised comments.

Pakistan's economy is in dire straits, stricken by a balance of payments crisis as it attempts to service high levels of external debt, amid political chaos and deteriorating security.

The country's central bank said Thursday its foreign exchange reserves had dropped again to $3.1 billion, which analysts said was enough for less than three weeks of imports.

Data on Wednesday showed year-on-year inflation had risen to a 48-year high, leaving Pakistanis struggling to afford basic food items.

Bowing to pressure

Ahead of the IMF visit, Islamabad began to bow to pressure with the prospect of national bankruptcy looming.

The government loosened controls on the rupee to rein in a rampant black market in U.S. dollars, a step that caused the currency to plunge to a record low. Artificially cheap petrol prices have also been hiked.

The world's fifth-biggest population is no longer issuing letters of credit, except for essential food and medicines, causing a backlog of thousands of shipping containers at Karachi port stuffed with stock the country can no longer afford.

"Accepting IMF conditions will definitely increase prices, but Pakistan has no other choice," analyst Abid Hasan told AFP. "Otherwise, there is a fear of a situation like Sri Lanka and Lebanon."

Rejecting conditions and pushing Pakistan to the brink would have "political consequences" for the ruling parties, but so will agreeing to IMF measures raising the cost of living, he said.

Political chaos

The tumbling economy mirrors Pakistan's political chaos, with former prime minister Imran Khan heaping pressure on the ruling coalition in his bid for early elections while his popularity remains high.

Khan, who was ousted last year in a no-confidence motion, negotiated a multibillion-dollar loan package from the IMF in 2019.

But he reneged on promises to cut subsidies and market interventions that had cushioned the cost-of-living crisis, causing the program to stall.

It is a common pattern in Pakistan, where most people live in rural poverty, with more than two dozen IMF deals brokered and then broken over the decades.

Pakistan 'Will Have to Agree' to IMF Conditions for Bailout, PM Says

Government has held out against tax rises and subsidy slashing

www.google.com

It is need of the hour. What other options are available?

 

[StormBreaker]

No
Saleh AS - the story of the she camel

Lut AS and the people who were leaving Sodom were forbidden to look behind, His wife looked back and she was turned to rock