Provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) will not be a part of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) programme, claimed PTI’s Leader Fawad Chaudhry during a recent interview on Dunya News.
The former Federal Minister said that the IMF’s programme depends upon the agreement that the provincial governments will provide the tax collection to the federal government. However, if the provincial governments were to withdraw from the agreement, the IMF deal would collapse, claimed Fawad Chaudhry.
It is pertinent to mention that the Federal Government had signed four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the provinces on the federal divisible pool and NFC award in July. It was agreed that a ratio of primary balance and overall fiscal deficit will be maintained in which fiscal surplus will flow from provinces to the federal government.
On the other hand, Federal Minister of Finance and Revenue, Miftah Ismail has claimed today that the IMF’s Executive Board will approve the programme with the transfer of $1.17 billion on Monday, 29 August. The incumbent government, since it assumed power, has been trying its best to get the IMF’s approval.
However, experts say that these efforts could go to waste if the provincial government were to pull out of the agreement.
What kind of stupidity is this, they are ok with receiving funds for their provincial government from “amreeka ghadaar/yazeed” but not for Pakistan.