Rabbani disputes Dr Shaikh’s statement on NFC Award

ISLAMABAD: Former Senate Chairman Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, in a rejoinder to the media conference by Adviser on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, on Friday disputed his statement that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had nothing to do with the NFC award.

Rabbani noted that the adviser on finance to the prime minister, in his press conference at Karachi as reported in the media said, “the IMF has nothing to do with the NFC Award.”

However, he asserted that the statement of the adviser was in total contradiction of the statement issued by Ramirez Rigo, Head of the IMF Team that visited Islamabad from April 29th to May 11th, 2019.

“The said statement issued on May 12, 2019, in the second last paragraph, states that to improve fiscal management, the authorities will engage provincial governments on exploring options to rebalance current arrangements in the context of the forthcoming National Finance Commission,” he pointed out. The veteran legislator maintained that the adviser was either unaware of the expectations of the IMF or was deliberately misleading the people of Pakistan. Rabbani noted that the IMF agreement had not been shared with the Federal Cabinet or parliament till date in order to shield such secret clauses that have been agreed to.

“The free float of dollar has resulted in a 5 per cent increase within one day as a consequence of which Pakistan’s foreign debt had increased by Rs667 billion,” he pointed out.

Rabbani wondered, “If there are no secret agreements that are detrimental to national security, provincial autonomy and wellbeing of the common man, then why the government continues to hide the terms of the IMF agreement.

State Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar had stated on the floor of the Senate twice that the details of the package to be signed with IMF would be shared with the standing committees of parliament.