ISLAMABAD — A day after Prime Minister Imran Khan dissolved the parliament under pressure from the opposition political parties, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Monday it would continue its financial support to Pakistan’s new government.
The IMF said in a brief statement, “”There is no concept of suspension within the IMF programme.”
The latest IMF statement indicates the seventh review of the Pakistani economy has ended and the three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) has been put on hold for the third time since it started in May 2019.
Pakistan and the IMF reached an agreement in May 2019 on economic policies for a three-year EFF. As per the agreement, Pakistan would receive about $6 billion from IMF over the next 39 months.
So far, Pakistan has received almost half of this amount. The loan programme was scheduled to end in September.
Timeline Of Ongoing Political Crisis In Pakistan
Opposition political parties submitted a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan on March 8, 2022, trigging a political wrangling between the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the united opposition, mainly led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
The parliament was set to vote on the no-confidence motion on April 3. As the National Assembly session started on Sunday morning, Federal Law Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain presented a resolution to the house and asked the speaker to declare the opposition’s move unconstitutional on the ground that it was funded and sponsored by a foreign power.
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri, who was presiding over the session instead of Speaker Asad Qaiser on that day, declared the no-confidence motion unconstitutional and prorogued the session indefinitely.
Minutes later, Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared on the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV), congratulated the nation over dismissal of the ‘foreign-funded’ no-confidence motion against him and said that he had sent advice to the president to dissolve the National Assembly. He asked people to prepare for fresh elections.
In the ensuing hours, President Arif Alvi dissolved the assembly.
Apparently shocked at the government’s moves, the opposition political parties challenged the deputy speaker’s, prime minister’s and president’s actions in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
As of Tuesday morning (April 5), the case is in the court and the two sides are submitting arguments.