Pakistan will take IMF money and not dictation: Finance Minister
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ISLAMABAD - Finance Minister Asad Umar on Wednesday has said that we will take IMF money but not the IMF dictation.
Umer defended the recent hike in power and gas prices, devaluation of rupee and increased taxation as a part of necessary measures to bring the country out of economic crisis.
In an interview with BBC’s Stephen Sackur, the finance minister said, “Both the monetary policy and the fiscal policy have been moving in the very direction of the reforms that are needed. We don’t need IMF to dictate us for us to do that, because we believe this is what’s necessary.”
“We have not waited for the IMF to come to us, and tell us what we need to do for our own economy or impose any sanctions on us. We have done that without the IMF’s assistance,” he went on to add.
Speaking about the country’s economic situation, the finance minister added, “The real challenge, and the real issue here is, (something that we will be judged on in the future), did we take the right decision in setting the economy on a path to the last IMF programme that the country will ever have to take?”
On the current course of action, he further stated, “A very clear direction has been set. Pakistan now has a very clear strategy, [unlike before] which was consumption-led imported capital finance that has repeatedly put the country into these economic issues. Until we move Pakistan towards domestic resource mobilisation, productivity-led, export-oriented economy, we will not be able to move out of this begging-bowl syndrome”.
Pakistan has sought another bailout from the IMF amid faltering economy and talks between the two sides haven’t yielded any results as of now. Along with the Fund, the country has approached its allies, China and Saudi Arabia, for financial bailout.
