Jhagra responds after Miftah accuses KP govt of jeopardising IMF deal

After Finance Minister Miftah Ismail accused the KP government of plotting to derail the IMF deal in a late-night press conference, KP Finance Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra stated that the province is currently dealing with a flood scenario that takes precedence over everything else.

In a previous letter to Miftah, Jhagra connected the payment of the Rs100 billion in alleged liabilities with the clearance of the provincial cash surplus for this fiscal year, which is a requirement of Pakistan’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

This occurs just three days prior to the revival of IMF’s multibillion dollar credit programme. The K-P government has already agreed through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to achieve the Rs117 billion cash surplus that is required by the IMF arrangement. Ismail is a co-signatory of the Letter of Intent (LoI) that was recently sent to the IMF in order to revive the programme.

“Please note that in these conditions [floods], and without the resolution of the issues highlighted previously, for the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to actually leave a surplus will be next to impossible,” Jhagra wrote in the communique sent to Miftah on Friday.

Miftah Ismail’s call, according to Jhagra, was “interesting,” and the two will now meet on Monday to resolve their issues. However, the provincial finance minister stated it was “sad” that in Pakistan, one needed to “shout to be heard.”

Jhagra confirmed in a series of tweets that he had actually addressed a letter to the federal finance minister and not the IMF. The provincial minister sent a letter that included images as well.

Jhagra went on to say that despite raising the same issues with Miftah at their meeting on July 5, they decided to return the IMF MoU to Islamabad within 24 hours with the approval of the chief minister of KP.

Jhagra added that the KP administration would never back down from advocating for a strong federation or from bringing up its concerns at the centre.

At a late-night press conference, Miftah called the letter “deplorable.” He labelled the letter as a “conspiracy to derail the IMF programme and sink the rupee.”

He questioned whether PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who was seeking to obliterate Pakistan and its economy out of a desire for power, had any set parameters.