US wants successful Pakistan-IMF programme, says Blome

KARACHI: US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome has said the International Monetary Fund is an independent institution that works within its policy framework, but his country wants to see Pakistan’s successful programme with the IMF. 

He was speaking at an interactive session on “US-Pakistan Relations: Present and Future”, organised by the Pakistan Council on Foreign Relations here on Friday.

Ambassador Blome’s remarks came a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made yet another request to the IMF to release the $1.1bn tranche, pending since November last year, as the $6.5bn loan programme draws close to its scheduled expiry at the end of June.

The prime minister met IMF Managing director Kristalina Georgieva in Paris on Thursday and said the country had completed all the requirements asked for by the lender.

In his address, Ambassador Blome said they had the desire to see Pakistan successfully participating in the IMF’s financial assistance programme. He stressed that they wanted Pakistan to make progress and never desired any country to face diplomatic isolation.

The top American diplomat in Pakistan told the audience that the United States had trade relations with China.

He said the US had extended the best possible assistance to Pakistan to help it in tackling the devastation caused by the floods of last year. He said it is their desire to see a Pakistan that is resilient to the effects of climate change, and that the Pakistanis are entitled to a better future.

Blome identified the economic issue as a major problem of Pakistan, saying that America was keen to see resolution of this problem.

He said the trade ties between Pakistan and his country had been growing with the passage of time, recalling that the US had donated 80 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine to Pakistan during the Covid-19 emergency. He hoped the ties between the two countries would further flourish.

The US ambassador said Pakistan would get more opportunities for progress and development with the strengthening of the ties between the US and Pakistan. “We want to see such a Pakistan that is ideal for investment,” he said.

He said the US had the intention to improve its diplomatic ties with Pakistan. “We want to talk about the future instead of discussing the past in this regard,” he added.