Pakistan, IMF reach $3bn staff-level agreement
Al JazeeraJul 04, 2023
The Facts
A week after approving a $3B bailout program — including an immediate disbursal of $1.2B to help Pakistan through its economic crisis — the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that the country’s “complex and multifaceted” economic challenges pose “exceptionally high” risks.
The IMF released a 120-page report on Pakistan’s macroeconomic outlook Tuesday based on the Memorandum of Economic and Fiscal Policies, which is signed by the Finance Minister and State Bank Governor. In it, the lender suggested a “successor arrangement” may be necessary.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
The IMF is doing all it can to help Pakistan out of its dire economic situation, and it's now up to the Pakistani government to abide by the lender’s guidelines to help the country’s economy and human rights situation. The IMF has rigorously studied Pakistan’s holistic outlook and is implementing the necessary policies that will allow a bailout deal to have long-standing impacts. The IMF’s aid to Pakistan is humanitarian as well as economic.
Establishment-critical narrative
While the IMF may act like it is helping Pakistan through its economic hardships, the lender is actually treating Pakistan like a subservient colony that can't act in its own national interests. Of course, Pakistan greatly benefits from the money it can use to pay off some of its debt, but an international loan is not an excuse to hold a nation of over 200 million people hostage. The IMF should want to help Pakistan without trying to hegemonically control every facet of its economy.
