Our Bureau
New Delhi
India has been condemning the decision taken by the International Monetary Funds (IMF) to sanction a loan of 1 billion dollars to Pakistan. IMF has defended itself saying that Pakistan met all the required targets hence there was no reason to not grant them this loan. The loan was passed by the IMF when Pakistan and India were in a whirlwind of conflict and the bordering nation was launching drone attacks on India.
Julie Kozack, the director of the communications department of IMF, said, “Our Board found that Pakistan had indeed met all of the targets. It had made progress on some of the reforms, and for that reason, the Board went ahead and approved the program.”
The IMF has revealed their reasoning days after India had asked them to reconsider their decision of sanctioning a $2.1 billion bailout to Pakistan. The Indian government stated that Pakistan uses this money to harbour terrorists on their soil which attack India and take innocent lives. India’s Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh also commented on the situation and stated that if the IMF goes through with the funding they will be indirectly funding terrorism.
Julie Kozack spoke on the Pahalgam terrorist attack and the tumultuous conflict between the two nuclear powers. She said, “With respect to Pakistan and the conflict with India, I want to start here by first expressing our regrets and sympathies for the loss of life and for the human toll from the recent conflict. We do hope for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.”
Kozack also addressed how the whole loan was sanctioned. She stated how the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme was the one under which the IMF disbursed $2.1 billion to Pakistan.
She said, “The first review was planned for the first quarter of 2025. And consistent with that timeline, on March 25 of 2025, the IMF staff and the Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement on the first review for the EFF. That agreement, that staff-level agreement, was then presented to our Executive Board, which completed the review on May 9. As a result, Pakistan received the disbursement at that time
