Bureau Report

KARACHI: Former Finance Minister and economist Dr Hafiz Pasha has said that he was also perturbed by this way of handling such matters. Right now our relationship with the IMF is “worrisome” (pareshan qun) because their attitude has been extremely “tough” with Pakistan, he said. It is not willing to grant Pakistan any concessions.

“But if you pull these stunts,” he said, “then the danger is that … the IMF will not like this.” Anjum Ibrahim argued that these kinds of tweets send the wrong message to anyone who wants to invest in Pakistan. Dr Pasha agreed.

He argued that taking such decisions so informally is not right. Taxation is a serious matter that should be taken to parliament, which should debate the Finance Bill. And so until we get approval from the IMF executive board, this kind of discussion should be avoided.