Chairman Standing Committee on National Assembly for Finance, Asad Umar revealed that why Prime Minister Imran Khan opted for the IMF option, while other options were also available. He shared the matter while addressing a gathering at Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL).
The former finance minister said that “In March (this year), I went to the prime minister and showed him the numbers. I told him that going to the IMF was now a choice as opposed to compulsion,”. He added that “That choice had been created primarily because of the phenomenal goodwill of the prime minister in the global market, particularly in Asia, and a very mutually reinforcing relationship between the civil and the military arms of the government,”.
Umar explained that the funds could be obtained from Gulf sector by using good military ties with them, and a blend of tariff and non-tariff barriers from commercial banks and international capital markets could serve the purpose for the falling economy of Pakistan. He further said that by using this option currency depreciation could also be done in a controlled manner, but the option was not safe to opt. IMF was a much safer and compact option as compared to the other one which had risks subject to market conditions.
The decision was made at PM’s discretion and he opted for IMF. “Because every single expert agreed that we must go to the IMF, he decided not to take that risk,” said Umar. He also mentioned PM’s words that although he is a risk-taker, he decided to go with the decision of the majority.
Umar was PTI’s first choice for the Ministry of Finance, but earlier this year, he resigned from his office before the first budget session and pending matter of the 6 billion USD bailout package from the IMF.