It’s necessary to approach IMF: Sheikh Rasheed

RAWALPINDI: Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, on Wednesday said it was necessary to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the current circumstances, ARY News reported.

Speaking to media here, Rasheed said the government was keeping national interest in view before agreeing to the conditions laid out by the IMF.

He underlined that the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visits to China, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were successful.

The minister said the opposition’s hue and cry would not distract the government from its path to deliver results.

Responding to a question, he said nobody would be allowed to walk or offer prayers on a railway track.

Rasheed said the ‘looters’ bankrupted the country for their own gains, “and now the government is taking measures to revive the economy.”

Pakistan has extended talks with the IMF after the two sides failed to agree on the terms of a bailout package, a finance ministry official said on Tuesday (Nov 20), with a final deal now expected by mid-January.

Pakistan is negotiating its second IMF bailout since 2013 and talks were expected to conclude this month during a visit by an IMF delegation to Islamabad.

Finance ministry spokesman Noor Ahmed said there were still some issues to be ironed out.