ISLAMABAD – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has responded over themedia reports of calling Asad Umar an arrogant person.
IMF denied that it termed Finance Minister Asad Umar as ‘arrogant’, asclaimed by a Pakistani journalist this week.
Ihteshamul Haq, an economic analyst for a Lahore-based TV channel, had onThursday attributed such remarks to IMF’s resident chief in Pakistan on anevening show.
He also claimed the IMF official was of the view that the Pakistaniminister was “coming unprepared”, and the “IMF has conveyed this message tothe Pakistani authorities”.
However, the IMF resident representative in the country has termed all suchreports as untrue. “We have never spoken about Asad Umar in terms like theone suggested in the message,” she concluded.
Last year, an IMF mission led by Harald Finger visited Islamabad fromNovember 7-20, 2018 to initiate discussions on a financial arrangement withthe international monatery organisaton requested by the Pakistaniauthorities to support their economic reform program.
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Finance Minister Asad Umar, secretary finance and other key officialsrepresented Islamabad in the meeting.
After the discussions concluded, the Pakistani authorities were of viewthat harsh conditions of the IMF cannot be accepted.
They said that Pakistan wanted to avail the bailout package on acceptableconditions, while the IMF has reportedly given positive response over itand agreed to continue the talks.
