ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said that his government had been able to navigate the challenges faced by Pakistan in the best possible fashion with the help of its people and brotherly and friendly countries, and very hopeful of finalizing a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month.
In an interview with Anadolu News Agency posted on its website on Monday, the prime minister said Pakistan had been facing a plethora of problems since April 2022, when the current government took over after former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted in a no-trust vote.
“The issues are the result of the previous (PTI) government’s policies, “he said.
“Pakistan, in April 2022, was on the verge of default because the government of the day had violated the IMF agreement and the economy was in tatters,” he maintained.
Prime Minister Sharif said “Then we had devastating floods in August 2022. Combined with that we are facing galloping inflation, because of the international situation.”
To a question, he said Pakistan was very hopeful of finalizing a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month.
“We are still very hopeful that the IMF program will materialize. Our ninth review by the IMF will match all terms and conditions and, hopefully, we’ll have some good news this month,” he told Anadolu in Ankara.
The prime minister was in Ankara for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inauguration ceremony.
“We have met all conditionalities. I repeat, each and every requirement of the IMF as prior actions has been met,” he asserted.
“Some of those actions are usually met after the board’s approval, but this time the IMF required that those actions be met before the board’s approval, so we have met them,” he was quoted by the Turkish news agency as saying.
