Pakistan's Finance Minister Tarin unhappy with IMF’s conditions

ISLAMABAD - Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Monday expressed reservations over the “injustice” meted out to Pakistan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) through the Extended Fund Facility for the financially-strapped country.

The newly-appointed finance minister expressed it during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, and Economic Affairs. The meeting was chaired by the committee chairman, Faiz Ullah Kamoka.

He said that the IMF’s demand to raise power tariff is unjustified as this condition has hindered the growth of the country, adding that the corruption is also on the rise. He said that such move caused inflation in the country.

If the PTI government fails to increase the GDP growth to 5%, next four years of Pakistan will be at “God’s mercy”.

He said that the government is trying to highlight the matter with the global lender. The minister said that the government needs to take tough steps to put the economy back on track.

He stressed on expanding the net instead of putting burden on existing taxpayers. Tarin also called for introducing long term policies like China, Turkey and India to recover the national economy.

He also called for privatizing all institutions that are running in the losses, besides lamenting that a meager chunk of budget is allocated for education and health.