NEW YORK: While rejecting Imran Khan, the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has indicated that it is willing to cooperate with the new government in Pakistan and has demanded that an audit of the election results be conducted before granting Islamabad any further loans.
The Standby Arrangement (SBA) lender brought total disbursements to $1.9 billion on January 11, according to Julie Kozack, Director of Communications at the IMF. She further stated that the program is “supporting the authority’s efforts to stabilise the economy and to, of course, with a strong focus on protecting the most vulnerable.”
The official expressed gratitude for the temporary arrangement and stated that economic stability has been upheld by the authorities throughout the caretaker government’s rule.
“Strict commitment to budgetary goals combined with safeguarding the social safety net has allowed for this. It has been accomplished by continuing to maintain a strict monetary policy stance in order to keep foreign exchange reserves growing and limit inflation,” the speaker stated.
“We look forward to working with the new government on policies to ensure macroeconomic stability and prosperity for all of Pakistan’s citizens,” the statement continued.
“I’m not going to comment on ongoing political developments,” she said in response to a question on former prime minister Imran Khan’s request for an audit of the poll results.
The PTI founding chairman decided to write a letter to the international lender, asking it to demand an audit of the election held on February 8 before it proceeds with talks with Islamabad for a new loan program. This decision prompted the IMF to release its statement.
“Today, Imran Khan is going to send a letter to the IMF.” The PTI leader’s attorney, Barrister Ali Zafar, told reporters at the Adiala Jail on Thursday that the IMF, EU, and other organizations’ charters specify that they may only operate or offer loans to a country if there is effective governance.
Zafar insisted that if the people’s mandate was stolen, democracy could not function and claimed that it was taken in the dead of night.
He claimed that Imran would send a letter to the lender in Washington, DC, requesting that it request that the Pakistani government send an impartial audit team to audit the rigged constituency.
“We make it very clear to the IMF that before any negotiations can place, there must be an independent audit conducted in the constituencies where vote-rigging took place, rather than through the ECP. He contended that the courts ought to be involved and that everything would be OK if the supreme court led it.
According to Ali Zafar, no one would lend money to this nation if the elections were not transparent.
