News India Live, Digital Desk: Imf gave clarification: Amidst India’s objections on the relief package given by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Pakistan, the IMF has said that this country -in -law has “met all the necessary goals” to get the latest loan installment. ”
The IMF has recently approved the bailout package of $ 1 billion (more than Rs 8,000 crore) to Pakistan, while India has objected to it.
India had asked Pakistan to reconsider this relief package, as Pakistan allows terrorists to use their land to carry out state sponsored attacks against Indian citizens.
Last week, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that the aid to Pakistan is “indirect funding to terrorism” and he warned international agencies including IMF.
The global lender distributed $ 2.1 billion to Pakistan in two installments as part of its extended fund facility (EFF) program. Last year, IMF and Pakistan signed a $ 7 billion agreement under EFF.
Defending its loan, Julie Kozack, director of the IMF Communications Department, said on Thursday, “Our board found that Pakistan has actually fulfilled all the goals. It has progressed on some reforms, and that is why the board went ahead and approved the program.”
Kozack also made a brief statement regarding the conflict between India and Pakistan and hoped for a peaceful solution between the two countries. He said, “Regarding the conflict with Pakistan and India, I want to express and sympathy for the loss of life and property in the first recent struggle. We expect a peaceful solution to the struggle.”
He said that the IMF Executive Board had approved Pakistan’s EFF program in September 2024. And the first review at that time was scheduled for the first quarter of 2025. “According to that time limit, on March 25 of 2025, IMF Staff and Pakistani authorities entered into a staff-tier agreement on the first review for EFF. That agreement, that staff-tier agreement was then presented to our Executive Board, and our Executive Board completed the review on 9 May. As a result of the completion of that review, Pakistan received the atmosphere at that time.”
He said that it is part of a standard procedure under programs that the IMF takes a time to time to assess the progress of the Executive Board loan programs. “And they especially see if the program is on track, whether the conditions under the program are fulfilled, and whether the program needs any policy change to bring back the track. And in the case of Pakistan, our board found that Pakistan has actually fulfilled all the goals. It progressed on some reforms, and for that reason, the board went ahead and approved the program,” he said.
Kojac said that the board had enough consensus on the fact whether the IMF should be allowed to move forward or the board should take a decision to move forward and complete the review of Pakistan.
However, he said that any type of deviation from the established program conditions will affect future reviews for Pakistan.
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