A rare consensus on IMF

How times change. The IMF team is in town to negotiate with the government on the revival of the stalled $6.5 billion bailout package. There are, however, no protests. Even Dar the charlatan has caved in. His shop floor manager has vowed to swallow the bitter pill, despite the anxieties transmitted from the top floor. The F(und) word was not mentioned on the red carpet laid out for the eagerly awaited return of the princess from the land of princesses. Internationally, the Bhutto heir is articulating the idea of reform. Critiquing IMF’s Western agenda is no more the refrain of the Maulana of the PDM. So much so that the leader of our second freedom movement deems the deal with the IMF a regrettable necessity. Those shunned by their parties take the cake. Pakistan is to be reimagined as the poster boy of structural reform that used to be dismissed as a neoliberal fantasy. Economists of all reckoning are vying to fit into a technostructure of the future. Opinion pages and editorials of newspapers pinpoint the government failure to follow the diktat of the lender of the last resort. Economic reporters are outcompeting each other in demonstrating their mastery of Extended Fund Facility (EFF), Letter of Intent, Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP), Technical Memorandum of Understanding (TMU), first to umpteen number of reviews, conditionality, prior actions, benchmarks, slippages and so forth. According to the latest Gallup & Gilani analysis of the contents of Pakistan’s talk shows, only 11% of the talk time was spent on economy, “despite dire economic conditions.” The Bretton Woods Sister was the darling of all of these shows, and governments was villain of the piece. Public demonstrations on the roads, including those staged by labour unions, demonise the political ruling class, not the global exploiters led the by the creations of imperialism such as the IMF. This writer is no exception. In college days, during the service in the government, and the scribing since, “how to do without the IMF” was an obsession. No more.

With the rate of inflation at 27.6 % and expected to rise steeply, food beyond the reach of the poor and the lower middle class and the fuel cost hitting even the middle and upper middle class, the common perception seems to be that things have to get worse before they get better. They see a beam in the eye of the government, not IMF. After all, what is IMF asking the government to do. Do not spend more than you earn. Tax the rich and the privileged directly and target the poor and the low-income groups for subsidies. In the past, the governments got away with serious deviations and lukewarm reform efforts by pressurising IMF through the US and European members of its Board in exchange for services rendered as the most allied ally during the Cold War and the non-NATO ally in the War on Terror. Since the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the West has lost interest in pushing the IMF around. What is eye-opening for ordinary folks is that our brothers in Islam also insist on an agreement with IMF before they would fulfil their promises of support. Even our all-weather friend is waiting for IMF to force us to put our house in order first.

A rare consensus is abroad. The people are braving the crisis. The world is watching. Whether this will be our last IMF programme or not, depends on the will of those misgiven about their political capital.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2023.

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