Pakistan’s opposition parties have promised to resist the country’s upcoming $6 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund, terming the deal a sellout on the part of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government.
An initial agreement, announced late on Sunday, has Pakistanis angry for two main reasons: It calls on them to start paying their income taxes and sets the stage for their money to lose more of its value.
On Monday, Ahsan Iqbal, a senior leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, told the Nikkei Asian Review that the agreement “is a complete capitulation [and in disregard to] Pakistan’s national interests. Never before in our history have we seen a government accept such tough conditions tied to an IMF program.”
Iqbal’s sentiment is widely shared among opposition leaders. After Reza Baqir, a former IMF official and a well-respected economist, early this month was appointed governor of Pakistan’s central bank, opposition leaders rejected the nomination. Iqbal said Baqir’s appointment only confirms that Pakistan has become “a colony of the IMF.”
He added, “You now have an IMF man running our central bank.” (more…)
