World News | Pakistan slams IMF for ‘interfering’ in country’s internal affairs

Islamabad [Pakistan]May 31 (ANI): Pakistan’s Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha on Wednesday slammed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for “interfering” in Pakistan’s internal affairs, Geo News reported.

Geo News is a news channel in Pakistan.

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“Pakistan is acting in accordance with the law,” the state minister said, calling a statement by Nathan Porter, head of the IMF mission in Pakistan, about the political situation in Pakistan “extraordinary”.

While the IMF does not comment on domestic politics, Porter has said the fund hopes to “find a peaceful path forward consistent with the Constitution and the rule of law.”

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The state minister, while hoping the two sides can reach a staff-level agreement ahead of the publication of the federal budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year, which is expected to be announced on June 9, said the delay would be bad for both Pakistan and the US fund.

Pasha confirmed reports that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had contacted IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, adding that the prime minister had assured the head of the fund that Pakistan would honor all its obligations.

Pakistani Prime Minister Sheikh Baz Sharif reached out to Georgieva on Saturday, asking her to help Pakistan restart a stalled $6.5 billion financing facility.

Prime Minister Sheikh Baz asked her to intervene to complete the pending ninth review, which will provide $1.1 billion in financing for the cash-strapped country, sources said.

The funding gap is one of the biggest hurdles as the coalition government has been in talks with the Washington-based bank since November to restart its bailout. About $2.7 billion remains to be paid out of a $6.5 billion program scheduled to expire next month, Geo News reported.

Responding to a question on June 30 about Pakistan’s failure to persuade the fund’s plan of action before the plan expired, the minister said: “The finance ministry will not sit with its eyes closed, there is always a plan B, but our priority The task is to revive the IMF program.” (Arni)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the body of content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)