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The adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin left Washington on Thursday after talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did not reach a satisfactory conclusion, media reports said.
The talks could have ended up in getting the endorsement of the government's policies by the IMF. Finance Secretary Yousaf Khan stayed back to continue discussions, Dawn reported. Tarin reportedly arrived in Washington in early October and later travelled to New York after staying in the city for 10 days. He returned to the city on Tuesday instead of flying to London as per his schedule, Dawn reported. The advisor "quietly" left Washington and caught a train to board an international flight from New York City. It is expected that he may join Imran Khan in Saudi Arabia during his 3-day visit to attend the inauguration of the Middle East Green Initiative Summit commencing October 23, according to Dawn. The newspaper however reported citing the sources in the IMF that the Imran Khan government was unwilling to take actions that are needed to narrow the gap between revenue and expenditure. The Imran Khan government is playing on its fears due to the general elections in the country that taking measures to lessen the gap might inflate the prices even further, according to the newspaper. If the talks with IMF concludes successfully, the country will be facilitated with an immediate disbursement of USD 1 billion. USD 6 billion deal between Pakistan and the IMF was signed in July 2019, but the programme was derailed in January 2020 and was restored again in March 2020. Again in June 2021, the programme got derailed. From June to August, there were no serious discussions between the two sides. (ANI)
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