Pakistan 'hostage' to IMF, being treated like a 'colony':Maryam Nawaz

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter and Opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s vice-president Maryam Nawaz has slammed former Prime Minister Imran Khan for flouting previous agreements with the IMF. “The IMF is not ready to trust us. Pakistan is a hostage to the IMF and it is treating the country like a colony. Even if we try to come out of its clutches, we can’t,”  Maryam said while addressing the youth and social media activists in Lahore on Monday. She accused him of selling off gifts that were presented to him during his time as prime minister and pushing Pakistan towards the brink of default.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has approached the United States seeking its help to secure “lenient treatment” from the IMF amid a delay in signing the staff-level agreement (SLA) due to the Fund’s demand on getting assurances on external finances. According to a The News report, the IMF has asked Pakistan to get confirmation on external financing needs of $6 to $7 billion from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and multilateral creditors to fill the gap till the end of June 2023. After failing to convince the lender, Islamabad is left with no option but to seek help from Washington and its western allies, in order to secure a “lenient treatment” from the IMF for moving towards the staff-level agreement. However, the IMF wanted a commitment to abolish power subsidies on a permanent basis; therefore, they asked for bringing changes in the wording of the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) in the last meeting, held in the previous week.