ISLAMABAD – As people across Pakistan took to the streets against inflated bills, prompting the interim government to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for some relief, but the lender has rejected the proposal for any tariff adjustment or provision of additional subsidy.
Pakistani authorities told IMF that bills collected for August reached close to the expectations. Still, the financial organization continues to come down hard on Pakistanis, who are battling high food and fuel prices.
IMF raised objections to the proposal to provide relief to masses against substantial power bills, as the government requested multilateral lender to allow quarterly tariff adjustments and Fuel Price Adjustments of Rs7.50 per unit.
IMF turned down the proposal, contending that the fiscal consequences would be much higher, and would be more than Rs15 billion. IMF told Pakistani officials to bridge this fiscal gap of 15 billion Rupees.
Therefore, the Ministry has started a review and adjustment of its relief plan, leading to a delay in reaching an agreement.
IMF officials and Finance Ministry representatives will engage in further discussions in coming days.
