The IMF programme dilemma

Pakistan is halfway into the ongoing $7 billion 36-month long Extended Fund Facility (EFF) approved in October 2024 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board. This austerity programme like all previous IMF programmes is causing jitters across Pakistan's political and media landscape. Former and current ministers including economic commentators are openly blaming the IMF-mandated policies for being anti-growth and worsening the country's financial health and increasing social distress. Recently, even the SIFC national coordinator said that the "country's growth plan was missing" and that "we have made a mess of our fiscal situation".