I think the classification of Pakistan’s approach to IMF programmes as a “start-stop-rollback” is quite accurate.
ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to Dr Meekal A Ahmed’s article “Please don’t blame the IMF” (September 10). I completely agree with the views Dr Meekal has expressed in his article. I would further add that if Pakistan had seriously implemented the IMF conditionalities in the early 1990s, we would have been better off. Pakistan and India approached the IMF due to similar problems, largely grounded in external imbalances, in 1989-90, and while India adopted the IMF programme wholeheartedly with political ownership, Pakistan eventually shied away from the suggested reforms after embracing them shortly. Thus, I think the classification of Pakistan’s approach to IMF programmes as a “start-stop-rollback” is quite accurate.
Ali Salman
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2012.
