ISLAMABAD: In a momentous event, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has cancelled his trip to the US. The trip was to meet with the IMF management to remove barriers to the staff-level agreement on the reactivation of the stalled rescue package.
High-ranking sources said Dar would not attend the World Bank-IMF spring meetings in Washington from April 10 to 16. On Sunday, Senate leader Dar scheduled to arrive in Washington.
The finance minister stated on Thursday that he would not travel due to domestic issues.
The trip to Washington cancelled due to political unrest and legal turmoil. Dar has a plan to address financial and political concerns about government stability. As well as future economic objectives, and reestablishing trust with international lenders.
Because to political uncertainty, Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq would not visit the US, officials stated. Pakistan’s economic affairs minister always represented the World Bank. Ayaz was close to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and managed associated parties’ politics.
The finance minister’s withdrawal may also cancel meetings with his Saudi Arabian and UK development ministers.
Finance Secretary Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh and Economic Affairs Secretary Kazim Niaz would represent the government at WB-IMF spring meetings.
Secretarys were equivalent to deputy ministers and could still meet high-ranking foreign officials.
Tariq Bajwa to replace Dar
Finance Special Assistant Tariq Bajwa may replace Dar. The sources stated the PM’s special assistant was lower in position. He might not be able to meet with multilateral institution presidents and finance ministers due to diplomatic protocol concerns.
Dar spoke with the presidents of WB, Asian Development Bank, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, three multilateral creditors key to Pakistan’s ambitions to raise $6 billion in extra loans to meet the last IMF criteria.
Dar scheduled to meet with IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Monsio Sayeh next Thursday. Ms Kristalina Georgieva did not make time.
Spring meetings
On Thursday, IMF Resident Representative Esther Perez told that “The Pakistan delegation will have a high-level meeting during the spring meetings with IMF’s deputy managing director Ms Sayeh, who follows Pakistan closely.”
On Monday, Dar met with Nathan Porter, IMF Mission Chief to Pakistan. After the government’s fiscally reckless petrol subsidy announcement, Pakistan and the IMF stopped discussing, making the meeting important.
The government maintained that the petrol subsidy would not harm the budget, however the plan did not guarantee that.
The sources stated Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, and Waly Adeyemo, her deputy, had not appointed.
Samantha Power, the USAID administrator, was also unavailable, but a meeting with the South Asia assistant administrator was set.
The finance minister also met with IMF Middle East and Central Asia Director Jihad Azour.
The IMF fiscal affairs department was also scheduled to meet to discuss the Rs276 billion tax collection gap in the first nine months of the fiscal year, sources said.
The finance minister was also scheduled to meet with representatives of the three international credit rating agencies that have downgraded Pakistan, temporarily closing international capital market borrowings.
The finance ministry also scheduled talks with foreign commercial bank representatives to persuade them to give commercial loans for external financing.
These meetings may continue.
