NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is unfair to Pakistan.
On Friday, Bilawal said that last year’s catastrophic flooding and terrorism were creating “a perfect storm” of crises.
Bilawal said his party supported revenue collection and believed the wealthy should pay more. Moreover, Pakistan had failed to achieve structural tax reform “for the last 23 IMF programmes that we have been a part of”.
“Is it really the time to nitpick about our tax policy and tax collection while we’re suffering a climate catastrophe of this scale?” Bilawal asked.
“A steady uptick of terrorist activities within our country” and 100,000 new refugees after the West’s withdrawal from Afghanistan make the IMF unfair to Pakistan, he said.
Moreover, The foreign minister added that the global lender was delaying talks at a time when the country needed money to help the “poorest of the poor”.
We won’t finish the IMF programme until their tax reform is complete.
Pakistan managed the COVID-19 pandemic, Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, inflation, and supply chain disruptions. Last year’s floods were the “biggest, most devastating climate catastrophe that we’ve ever experienced,” he said.
“Good economic relationship”
Bilawal Bhutto said Pakistan had a “very healthy economic relationship” with China that was “also in the spotlight as a result of geopolitical events”.
After the floods, the administration was “extremely thankful” to China for the $1.3 billion loan.
Afterward, The foreign minister claimed China had aided Pakistan by rolling over debt or providing economic assistance. This is not what is worrying me. We need support from anywhere.”
He said the administration was “looking to collaborate with anyone, including Russia” to satisfy energy needs and reduce the cost of imported petroleum.
He assumed the American pricing cap now allowed Russian imports.
Washington ties
“We are on a healthy trajectory,”
He noted that Pakistani officials recently convened to discuss counterterrorism.
Bilawal claimed Pakistan’s “alleged influence with the Taliban has always been exaggerated”.
Yet, Pakistan had always prioritised dialogue with the Taliban on terrorism and other matters, including women’s education and employment. Pakistan wanted the Taliban to fight all terrorist groups, but doubted their ability.
Bilawal advised the West to interact with the Taliban “regardless of what’s going on on the ground”.
Without a functional economy, the Taliban won’t have “room” to implement political policies.
