The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday expressed concerns that the opposition might create hurdles in the way of implementing tough economic decisions, urging the government to meet all the “requirements” for the completion of the much-delayed programme review.
Nathan Porter, the visiting mission chief of the IMF, raised the question about the implication of the opposition’s role in difficult decisions that Pakistan would have to take to avoid the default.
He expressed these concerns during the opening round of 10-day-long talks, according to the government officials.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar led the Pakistani delegation.
Sources quoted the IMF mission chief as saying that the fund had concerns that the opposition might create some problems in the way of rolling out additional taxation measures that the government was planning to impose to revive the talks.
The government also started work on a plan for increasing the electricity prices.
However, the finance minister assured the IMF mission head that the government believed in political dialogue, the sources said. Dar stated that the government would try to enforce additional taxes in a manner that would avoid any untoward legal and political challenges, the sources added.
