Finance minister Shaukat Tarin said the government has already provided the IMF details from where the funds would come. “There are no issues,” the minister said.
At a time Imran Khan’s government is facing opposition in Pakistan, the International Monetary Fund has asked the government to explain how it would fund the $1.5 billion subsidy package that Prime Minister Imran Khan announced. Finance minister Shaukat Tarin said the government has already provided the IMF details from where the funds would come. “There are no issues,” the minister said.
Imran Khan has promised relief on petrol, diesel and electricity prices at a time when the price of crude oil shot up in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war. The package has also put Pakistani oil companies as they are not sure of when the government funds will be released.
The IMF has begun the seventh review of the $6 billion rescue package agreed with Pakistan in 2019, and Tarin said he will have a final meeting with the lender on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The political situation in Pakistan is undergoing turmoil as opposition political parties are pressing for a no-confidence motion in parliament to remove Imran Khan. On March 10, police stormed the parliamentarians’ apartments in Islamabad and detained two opposition MPs along with several other opposition activists. The police alleged that volunteers from the opposition Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam F (JUI-F) had entered the apartments without permission.
According to reports, the pressure is not only from the opposition but also from the Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Pakistan media reports stated that the decision to oust Imran Khan was taken by General Bajwa and three other senior Lt. Generals in a meeting which took place after Bajwa and the country’s spymaster Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum met Imran Khan.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan’s party has issued a show-cause notice to those who have recently defected from the party and sought an explanation from them by March 26.
(With agency inputs)
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