Bilawal seeks targeted subsidies from IMF, asks to 'soften conditions'

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari demanded targeted subsidies from global institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday while expressing hope that talks between the IMF and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will go well. Pakistan and the IMF are holding talks for the completion of the 9th programme review and its successful culmination can unlock the $1.1 billion loan tranche. Until the IMF deal was announced, the other multilateral and bilateral lenders would not opt to give major new loans to Pakistan. Read Bilawal seeks plan to avert economic crisis With just a couple of days left to end differences with the global money lender, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday gave a go-ahead to increase electricity prices, which may further push the annual base tariff up by about 33%. The decision was apparently made after the IMF did not budge from its earlier stance that Pakistan will have to honour its past commitments. However, suspicion still remains rampant that Pakistan may not receive the projected $5 billion loans from multilateral and commercial creditors as Islamabad still awaits the Memorandum for Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) draft – the key programme document that will reflect the revised fiscal, monetary and external sector targets for the remainder of this fiscal year and the projections for the next fiscal year. Speaking at the Sindh Donor Conference in Karachi, Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal urged the IMF to "help the people drowning in the floods and inflation and take care of them". He maintained that targetted relief for flood affectees was crucial, particularly in agriculture, energy and basic amenities, "which are only possible if the IMF softens its conditions". He credited Pakistan's successful diplomacy in helping gain funds for flood affectees at the Geneva conference, but simultaneously stressed that $1.5 billion were needed for the construction of houses. "Of this, World Bank has contributed $500 million and the Sindh government has arranged for another $250 million, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has given another $250 million," he said. Read More Utilising natural resources can help ‘bid IMF goodbye’ Releasing funds for the construction of flood victims, the minister said that "we are not just building houses, but we are also making the flood victims the property owners". He revealed that on the directions of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, the houses will be allotted to the women of each household. It should be noted that the funds were immediately transferred to eight districts upon release. The first installment is Rs75,000 and the affectees are able to withdraw the amount from banks. The districts include Larkana, Sukkur, Dadu, Hyderabad, Thatta, Shaheed Benazirabad, Umarkot and Tindwalayar.

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