Painful Reality: PM Shehbaz Says No Other Option But to Go for IMF Program

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the government had no other option but to implement the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, calling it a painful reality.

Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, the premier said that the country had no other option but would have to implement the IMF program and criticized the previous government for breaching its agreement with the international lender.

PM Shehbaz also regretted that the government could not provide subsidies to any sector without approaching the IMF, saying that it was a “painful reality”. Meanwhile, he lauded the nation for braving the burden of the price hike with patience.

Earlier this month, IMF Resident Representative for Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz had said that discussions between Islamabad and the international moneylender on the ninth review had been “productive” so far. However, the Fund has yet to give a specific timeline for formal talks with Pakistan over the ninth review.

Pakistan entered a $6 billion IMF program in 2019, which was increased to $7 billion earlier this year. The program’s ninth review is currently pending the release of $1.18 billion. It had earlier been put off for two months due to the PML-N-led government’s unwillingness to accept certain conditions placed before it by the Fund, and the disagreements have yet to be resolved.

Solar

Addressing a solarisation conference, the prime minister said under the plan, all the federal government ministries, departments, authorities, and their offshoots in the provinces would immediately shift to solar energy. He said it would be a model for the rest of the provincial governments as the federal government would not make additional expenditures over the solarisation process.

The prime minister also urged all the relevant authorities and the stakeholders to complete the required process by the end of April next year and meet the timeline which had been set.

“Consider it as our political, social, national, and religious duty to implement it as soon as possible,” he opined.

The prime minister said with these urgent measures, they would be able to generate 300MW to 500MW of cheap power, thus reducing the import bill worth billions of dollars each year. He further assured that the whole process would be conducted through transparent bidding via a third party.

He also urged the provincial chief ministers to emulate the federal government’s launched pattern and introduce solar systems in their respective provinces, assuring the federal government’s complete assistance in this regard. “It is the only option for our survival as a nation,” he added.

The prime minister said that the process for the generation of 10,000MW solar power in the country had already commenced and such a conversion by the federal government buildings would be the first phase.

Enumerating the economic challenges faced by the country due to skyrocketing fuel and gas prices after the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said that developing countries like Pakistan had to bear the brunt.

He said the $27 billion costly fuel import bill was a big challenge for countries like Pakistan, adding that the ongoing conflict had also surged prices of gas and worsened its availability as the supply to Europe was disrupted.

The prime minister said during the Covid pandemic, the prices of gas crashed to the lowest and it was sold at $2 per unit. The then government committed criminal negligence by not securing its import and due to it, now the whole nation had been suffering, he added.

 



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