Ishaq Dar, the minister of finance and revenue, said on Wednesday that the “best strategy” employed by the PDM-led administration to get the nation out of its economic crisis was successful.
The minister made his remarks at a gathering in Madina, Saudi Arabia, as the $350 billion economy struggles with one of its biggest political and economic crises and a looming default danger.
Attacking the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), he claimed that the previous administration had “brought the nation to the verge of default,” but that the current administration “preferred” to save the country rather than its votes.
The minister said, “To all those chanting ‘default, default’, listen, Pakistan will never default,” pointing out that the government had paid off $11 billion in debt in the previous six months.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) project, which has been on hold since last year and caused a halt in funding from bilateral and multilateral sources, is a significant barrier to taming the economic crisis.
The finance minister, however, reiterated the claim made by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, claiming that Pakistan had fulfilled all requirements for the restart of the IMF project.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have confirmed their commitments to the Fund of $2 billion and $1 billion, respectively, while China has rolled over about $2 billion.
Since the beginning of February, Islamabad and the IMF have been negotiating over the release of $1.1 billion from a $6.5 billion bailout package decided upon January 2019.
The government has reduced subsidies, abolished a fictitious exchange rate ceiling, increased taxes, and increased fuel costs in order to release the funding.
Since the foreign exchange reserves have been reduced to $4.03 billion, or less than a month’s worth of imports, the loan is essential for the faltering economy.
