Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) clarified on Sunday that the call between Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF Managing Director and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took place on the request of the Prime Minister, a statement that indicates ‘Islamabad has not refrained from doing politics despite nearing default,’ reports local media on Sunday.
“The call took place in response to a request by the PM of Pakistan to discuss the International Conference on resilient Pakistan,” resident representative of the IMF, Esther Perez confirmed. It is to mention here that on Friday the PM Office, through an official handout after the PM’s speech at the Hazara Electric Supply Company’s inauguration ceremony said that “the IMF managing director called premier Shehbaz on the phone.” During his speech, the Prime Minister had also claimed that the IMF managing director had contacted him.
It seems that the government is making questionable claims despite risking sovereign default with only 4.5bn dollars in foreign exchange reserves in hand. The reserves are to finance only three weeks of imports. The country’s January-March (three months) debt repayments stand at 8.5bn dollars. This includes 2bn dollars to the UAE which the government is trying to get a rollover for.
According to the local newspaper, such factually incorrect statements may create more problems for the country to convince the Fund administration, particularly when there is a long history of mistrust between the both sides. The country has long been in difficult relationships with the Fund due to its making promises at the time of getting a loan tranche but then abandoning the commitments once the tranche disbursed, resulting in a wide gulf.
IMF spokesperson
A spokesperson of the Fund in a statement also said that the MD had a constructive call with PM Sharif in the context of the Int’l Conference on Resilient Pakistan going to be held in Geneva on January 9 (Monday). It added that the Managing Director again expressed her sympathy to those directly affected by the floods and supported Pakistan’s efforts to build a more resilient recovery.
The PM had also said on Friday that the IMF mission would come to Pakistan in two to three days, a claim also rejected by the IMF spokesperson in a statement to the media. He said that the IMF delegation is expected to meet with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on the sidelines of the Geneva conference to discuss outstanding issues and the path forward.
The statement did not indicate that the 9th review mission will arrive in Pakistan in three days – a self-claimed deadline that will expire on Monday.
