Even after all the trouble the government has gone to accommodate IMF\u2019s demands-practically unravelling the ongoing fiscal\u2019s expansionary budget-there\u2019s still no telling when, or even if, the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) is going to be revived. The centre clearly thought it was more or less in the bag, and went ahead with blaming the previous administration for the present one\u2019s desperate need to get more loans to deflect all the criticism, but then the Fund made it mandatory to pass the so-called mini-budget and SBP amendment bill through parliament; failing which would mean no greenlight.
\nThis is where, quite expectedly, a new Pandora\u2019s box has fresh problems have arisen. For one thing, the opposition isn\u2019t going to have any of it. After all, why would any opposition party willingly waste the opportunity to attack a sitting government, especially when it can claim to be moved by the people\u2019s suffering? A bigger red flag has come in the form of the coalition partners, raising some stiff questions. This considerably complicates the position of the treasury benches. MQM leaders reminded PTI, that too in the House, that being partners in government in no way meant that their role was be limited to voting in its favour whenever it so demanded; and also lamented that the contents of the mini-budget were not shared with them. They\u2019ve objected to 11 clauses in the bill, including the imposition of taxes on food items, cottage industry, solar panels, hospital machinery, etc, and advised PTI to reconsider its position or prepare to face the \u201crevenge of the masses.\u201d GDA, too, is worried about new taxes on agriculture input items, which could make food more expensive.
\nThese are very serious issues and the government does not have the time to cajole both coalition partners and the opposition. It wouldn\u2019t be a smart idea to try and force these bills through the house either, as they did with electronic voting machines, because there\u2019s no assurance that allies will play along this time and also because opposition parties have threatened severe protests, in and out of parliament. Getting any more time from the Fund is also not very likely because even the short extension from mid-to end-Jan came with the hint that it might want an additional pound of flesh for the extra time.
\nAt stake is a lot more than just $1 billion. Failure to clear \u201cprior actions\u201d would kill the EFF, make loans from other bi- and multi-lateral donors more expensive, push up yields of Pakistani bonds, and also risk losing the Saudi loan and oil facility. The government has its work cut out for it indeed because it has just a few more days to decide about the fate of the IMF program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even after all the trouble the government has gone to accommodate IMF\u2019s demands-practically unravelling the ongoing fiscal\u2019s expansionary budget-there\u2019s still no telling when, or even if, the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) is going to be revived. The centre clearly thought it was more or less in the bag, and went ahead with blaming the previous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[840,2955],"class_list":{"0":"post-238617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial","7":"tag-fate","8":"tag-imf-program"},"yoast_head":"\n