IMF responds to PTI founder's letter on election 2024 audit

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday responded to the PTI founder’s letter seeking an audit of the Pakistan elections 2024.

The PTI founder wrote a letter to the IMF regarding the fund’s engagement with Pakistan under the loan program. The letter was received by the international lender on February 28.

“The IMF, as an international institution with a narrow mandate on economic issues, does not comment on domestic political developments. However, given the importance of the institutional environment for economic stability and growth, we do encourage the fair and peaceful resolution of all electoral disputes,” the IMF spokesperson said in a response to the PTI founder’s letter.

“In terms of our engagement with Pakistan, our aim is to support the implementation of strong policies to deepen financial stability, address the longstanding economic and underlying balance of payments challenges, and restore sustained and inclusive growth for the benefit of all Pakistani citizens.”

This includes stronger public finances, through high-quality revenue measures to broaden the tax base while scaling up the support for the most vulnerable, restoring energy sector viability, improving institutional governance and anti-corruption effectiveness, SOE reform, building climate resilience, and creating a level playing field for private businesses to promote investment and job creation, the statement further said.

Based on these objectives, we look forward to engaging with the new government to complete the second review under the current Stand-by Arrangement and, should the government request, support the formulation of a new medium-term economic program, the IMF said in its statement.