ISLAMABAD: As the controversy over talks with the International Monetary Fund echoed in the Senate on Thursday, the house was told that a deal with the IMF will shortly be finalised.

“We are in the process of working out technical details with the IMF team currently visiting Pakistan and will bring the agreement before finance committees of both houses of parliament once it is finalised,” said Minister of State for Revenues Hammad Azhar in reply to a calling attention notice of parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the Senate Sherry Rehman.

He said the talks had been under way since October last year, but an internal change had taken place within the IMF and a new team is in Pakistan for three days and it will stay here till May 10.

He dispelled the perception about division within the cabinet over the IMF conditions, saying the cabinet never discussed them.

The Senate witnessed rumpus when Mr Azhar, while rejecting the criticism of the rupee devaluation, said the PPP’s first eight months in power saw the worst-ever devaluation of 25 per cent as compared to 10.1pc during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government and 10.8pc during the PTI government.

Foreign minister was asked to brief parliament on listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist

Terming the opposition’s figures distorted, the minister rejected the notion that the government had crossed the red line of double-digit inflation. Mr Azhar said inflation had rather been brought down from 9.4pc to 8.8pc. It was 24.5pc during the PPP’s rule, he added.

About the opposition’s objections to the increase in prices petroleum products, he said the prices had gone up in the international market.

Earlier, Sherry Rehman reminded the government to stay within the ambit of the Constitution. “The government cannot use the IMF to step over the Constitution or suggest that the provinces are not fulfilling their taxation responsibilities. After the 18th Amendment, sales tax has remained with the provinces. The government must stay in line with the Constitution,” she remarked.

She said there was a net increase of Rs.1.44 trillion (almost 19pc) to Rs9.23trn in the external debt in first eight months of the current financial year. On average, the PTI government has been adding Rs15bn a day to the country’s debt. The PPP had added Rs5bn a day.

Global terrorist

Meanwhile, former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani, while speaking on a point of public importance, sought a briefing by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the recent designation of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council and China’s dropping its objection to the proposal.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2019