Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the threat of Pakistan defaulting on its debts was “now gone” and that a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would be reached “soon”.
Addressing a delegation of Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) in Islamabad, the prime minister said his government had successfully saved the country from bankruptcy.
He said that all efforts have been made to bring the country out of the economic slump.
“It has been 11 months since the coalition government took over and economically, Pakistan has been reeling over the fear of default, but the deals that were made with the IMF will affect the citizens for some time to come,” Prime Minister Shehbaz said.
He accused the previous government of knowingly abandoning the agreements it made with the IMF.
“The previous government realized in January 2022 that the opposition had a viable and constitutional plan to remove [then prime minister] Imran and so continued to violate the terms agreed with the IMF,” he said.
The prime minister insisted that he inherited an economy in ruins and that it was a difficult task for him to push it to recovery, especially since his government had to honor the agreements made by the previous PTI government.
The deal with the IMF would free up $1.1 billion, which analysts say is crucial if Pakistan is to avoid defaulting on its foreign debt, as it would also unblock inflows from friendly countries.
Cash-strapped Pakistan is in a race against time to put in place measures to reach an agreement with the IMF to complete the ninth review of the $7 billion loan program – which has been delayed since late last year due to a political framework.
Confusion in Zaman Park
The prime minister also spoke about the encounter between law enforcement agencies and PTI supporters at Lahore’s Zaman Park, where efforts by Islamabad police to arrest PTI chief Imran Khan faced resistance from party supporters and workers.
Accusing Imran of defying the courts, the prime minister pointed out that leaders from the PML-N, including Rana Sanaullah and Nawaz Sharif, had appeared in the courts without any objection.
He also said that no party can run away from the elections and cleared the impression that the PML-N was reluctant to go to the polls.
“We will go to the polls as per the guidelines set by the Election Commission,” Chief Minister Shehbaz said.