Going to the IMF was the only option

This is apropos a Business Recorder news item “Tarin defends govt’s IMF lending decision” carried by the newspaper on Sunday. According to it, “Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin left the opposition red-faced for their ‘undue criticism’ over the government’s decision of approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying the incumbent government had to borrow as the country needed to pay back as many as $28 billion accumulated due to the $20 billion current account deficit and short-term loans taken by the previous PML-N government.”

In my view, a mild-mannered Tarin has eventually seized the moment and worked up the courage to take on a seemingly ‘belligerent’ Opposition in the parliament and explain to all and sundry the state of economy that the PML-N government had bequeathed to the PTI government. Going to the IMF was not among the various options; it was, in fact, the only option. All of us know too well how bad the country’s external account was.

Saad Raza (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021