Billion-dollar loan tranche; IMF's strict stance on Pakistan, stringent instructions to curb corruption

ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has put forward tough conditions for Pakistan, which has sought a $7 billion loan to meet its daily expenses. The IMF has put forward 64 regulatory rules to be followed within the next 18 months. The Pakistani government has to follow 11 new conditions, including one to curb corruption.

The IMF had earlier demanded that Pakistan's national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) be privatized immediately. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had announced that the tender process for this would begin on December 23. The Pakistani government had asked the IMF for seven billion dollars (63,000 crore rupees).

The IMF had earlier given $1 billion as per Pakistan's request. About 9000 crore Indian rupees were received. The second tranche of $1.2 billion (Rs. 10,800 crore) was also approved. The next step is to privatise Pakistan International Airlines for the next tranches. The process is to sell 51 percent to 100 percent of the company's shares.

Orient Airways, which was founded on October 29, 1946, with its headquarters in Kolkata by Mirza Ahmed Ispahani and Adam Ji Haji Dawood, operated in Pakistan after its division. The government nationalized Orient Airways and renamed it Pakistan International Airlines in 1955. The company, which later collapsed, was in unsustainable debt. The company is currently in debt of Rs 82,500 crore. The company was banned by the European Union after it was revealed that 30 percent of the company's pilots had fake licenses.

The current IMF proposals are a major setback for everyone from senior administrators to junior officials. This is because corruption is endemic in Pakistan. It will be very difficult for the government to implement these new proposals.