Days after India's objection, IMF defends bailout package to Pakistan
The IMF’s justification comes after India asked it to reconsider its bailout package to Pak as it allows terrorists to use its soil for launching state-sponsored attacks
Days after extending a $1 billion (over Rs 8,000 crore) bailout package to Pakistan, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has defended the move, saying the debt-ridden country “met all the required targets” to receive the latest loan installment.
Also read | Why India objected to IMF loan for Pak, and why the objections made no difference
The IMF released the funding when Pakistan was busy with arbitrary firing on India after the Indian military launched Operation Sindoor - a military strike on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Indirect funding to terror?
The IMF’s justification comes days after India asked it to reconsider its bailout package to Pakistan as the neighbouring country allows terrorists to use its soil for launching state-sponsored attacks against Indian citizens. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh last week said that the aid to Pakistan is a “form of indirect funding to terror”.
IMF disbursed $2.1 billion to Pakistan in two tranches under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme. The global lender and Pakistan last year signed a deal for $7 billion under the EFF.
As per an NDTV report, defending its loan, IMF's director of the communications department, Julie Kozack, said, “Our Board found that Pakistan had indeed met all of the targets. It had made progress on some of the reforms, and for that reason, the Board went ahead and approved the program.”
Disbursement after review
“The first review was planned for the first quarter of 2025. And consistent with that timeline, on March 25 of 2025, the IMF staff and the Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement on the first review for the EFF. That agreement, that staff-level agreement, was then presented to our Executive Board, which completed the review on May 9. As a result, Pakistan received the disbursement at that time,” she explained further during a media briefing.
Also read | IMF sets 11 new riders for Pak before release of next tranche of aid
Kozack also addressed the conflict between India and Pakistan and hoped for a peaceful resolution between the two countries. “With respect to Pakistan and the conflict with India, I want to start here by first expressing our regrets and sympathies for the loss of life and for the human toll from the recent conflict. We do hope for a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” she said.