AS is widely known, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) continues to change its goal-posts as far as resumption of the stalled programme for Pakistan is concerned but Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is leading talks with the global lender, seems to be optimistic about the final outcome of the ongoing dialogue. Despite the fact that the country has met all the pre-conditions imposed by the Fund, there is no positive indication about early signing of a Staff Level Agreement (SLA) but the Minister, in an interview, has revealed that the country would share its budgetary proposals with the IMF in order to unlock the stalled funds.
There are less than two weeks for presentation of the federal budget for the next financial year and it seems next to impossible that any agreement would be signed with the IMF before June 09. However, the proposition that the details of the budget would be shared with the IMF means the hands of the Government would remain tied as far as provision of much-needed relief to the people is concerned. The Government persisted with hard and bitter decisions throughout the year that put additional burden on the masses but the IMF remained unmoved, strengthening speculation that there were some political and strategic angles to the issue of resumption of IMF aid. There are genuine apprehensions that presentation of the new budget under the guidelines of the IMF would result in more taxation with the possibility of no or negligible relief for the people and incentives for the business community. And still there is no firm guarantee about resumption of the programme and, therefore, the Government should think twice before making a plunge into the dark at the cost of its sagging popularity.
