Shaukat Tareen sparks off Punjab to withdraw form IMF deal

ISLAMABAD: PTI leader Shaukat Tareen has allegedly asked Punjab Finance Minister Mohsin Leghari to withdraw from the International Monetary Fund’s IMF deal. Just two days after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government backtracked from it.

KP and Punjab provinces are under PTI’s control and there have repeat instances where the federation and provinces have had differences and it all start in April when Imran Khan ousted.

The leaked audio came to the fore on the day that the international lender’s executive board is scheduled to meet for considering Pakistan’s request of releasing the $1.2 billion tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). 

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Economic experts expect the IMF deal to go through despite the setbacks. As all the prerequisites have met, however, if the board decides against releasing the trance. It will deal a huge blow to the country’s already faltering economy.

The KP government which is completely under PTI’s control has already written the letter. But Punjab which PTI rules in coalition with PML-Q is yet to write it. 

In the leaked audio, Tarin can be heard asking Leghari to tell the lender that the commitment Punjab made was pre-floods and now the province “cannot honour it”.

“You have signed a Rs750 billion [surplus] commitment with the IMF. You now need to tell them that the commitment you made was before the floods. And now [Punjab] has to spend a lot of funds for [the] floods [rehabilitation].”

“You need to say now that ‘we will not be able to honour our commitment’.” Tareen said, telling Leghari that this is all he wants –  for pressure to increase on the incumbent government.