Staff-level agreement with IMF would soon be finalized: PM

Islamabad:  Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would be finalized within a few days as the government has accepted even its toughest conditions.

In an interview with a private television channel, said joint efforts were being made by both his economic team and other national institutions to make the process a success.

He said former Prime Minister Imran Khan had backed out of the IMF conditions and undermined Pakistan in the world as well as among global institutions. That is why the IMF is making us accept those conditionalities and seeking their implementation.

Shehbaz Sharif said these conditions have burdened the common man; therefore the the government has decided to provide relief through the Benazir Income Support Programme.

The Prime Minister clarified that it was not only the IMF's conditions that were leading to historic-high inflation but Pakistan was also being impacted due to imported inflation due to the Russia-Ukraine war.