KARACHi - Ex-federal minister for finance Shaukat Tarin has stated that central federal government did not have enough money to clear the containers of onions and pulses. Former minister in a statement viewed that due to the closure of import lCs and the non-availability of dollars, traders were protesting and staging sit-ins outside the State Bank. Confidence in the banking sector was also declining, he added. he blamed the government’s lack of vision for the delay in scheduling formal talks on the overdue ninth review of a $7 billion international Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme. Pakistan entered a $6 billion iMF programme in 2019, which was increased to $7 billion last year. its ninth review is currently pending with remote talks being held between the iMF officials and the government for the release of $1.12 billion tranche. The 9th iMF review to clear the release of the next tranche of funds for Pakistan has been pending since September, as the country faces a severe economic crisis with its central bank’s foreign exchange reserves falling to a critical level of below $5 billion, which is barely enough for three months of imports. While welcoming the world community’s generous response at the recently held donors’ conference in Geneva where pledges for flood recovery exceeded $8 billion at a news conference at the Karachi Press Club, the former finance minister said the proportion of loan in the total commitments was a cause for concern.
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