The International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants complete details of country's entire debts, including those owed to China, before it takes a decision on our request to grant a loan. Only recently, US Secretary of State Pompeo issued a warning to us in relation to a possible IMF bailout which, according to him, is obtained to pay off China debt? There is no denying the fact that Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Armenia top the list of countries facing grave external account problems.
The new government in Pakistan has to deal with a host of economic challenges that the two previous governments have bequeathed to it. Telling Saudi Arabia that we would remain neutral in the Yemen conflict and the Syria civil war and yet expecting a bailout from the kingdom is a profound act of naivety. The Saudis seem to have told our government that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Approaching the IMF was not one of the options available with us, it was perhaps the only option. IMF bailouts seem to have become a euphemism for our state of economy.
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