Meetings with IMF: Sherry slams govt for keeping Parliament in dark

ISLAMABAD: PPP Parliamentary leader and Vice President Pakistan People’s Party Senator Sherry Rehman grills the government for keeping the parliament in the dark on the ongoing high-level meetings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“What is going on with the IMF meetings? Neither the Prime Minister nor the Minister of Finance briefed the Parliament on the terms of negotiations. Before briefing the IMF with the terms of agreement regarding the country’s foreign debts, the government should have discussed it in the Parliament. What is with this secrecy?” questioned the Senator Sherry Rehman through a statement on Tuesday.

Senator Sherry Rehman said it was highly disrespectful to both Houses and the people of Pakistan that media outlets know more about the deals that the government has been making back-to-back. “These are not small figures and will be felt in our economy in the months to come,” she said.

She said the Parliament was also not briefed prior to the Prime Minister’s major international trips. “We have a right to know and like every functioning democracy, the right to deliberate on matters of this importance,” she said.

Senator Sherry Rehman said she have brought this up in the Senate and have continuously called for the Minister to address this on the floor of the House as crucial information regarding the state of Pakistan’s balance of payments remains unknown to the Parliament. “How will we pay for our $95 billion external debt? A serious government should not allow conversations around such sensitive issues to be dominated by speculation and hearsay.