Pakistan, IMF reach $3bn staff-level agreement
Al JazeeraJul 08, 2023
The Facts
On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $3B bailout for Pakistan in a move that unlocks vital funding that could prevent the nation from defaulting on its debt.
According to the IMF, the nine-month standby deal for Pakistan is “to support the authorities’ economic stabilization program.”
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Though Pakistan wasted nine months trying to find an alternative to a previously agreed bailout deal, this new stand-by agreement has given the country a second chance to complete a job that should have already been done. This is just the first step to resolving the crisis, but it's vital to prevent a tragic default in the run-up to national elections by unlocking inflows from bilateral and multilateral partners.
Establishment-critical narrative
There's plenty of evidence that the Western liberal capitalist order is crumbling, but the Pakistani political elite has decided to bow to the IMF's diktats of austerity as if there was no way out of this crisis other than a bailout that undermines the nation's sovereignty. No matter how painful it could be, Islamabad should have followed the Chinese example to revamp its economy on a truly sustainable path.