• Miftah Ismail said restoration of economy was extremely tough job.
• He said the IMF saw only its own benefit.
• “We will have to change the system,” he said.

KARACHI: Former finance minister Miftah Ismail on Saturday said the federal expenditures should be cut to improve economic conditions of Pakistan, Bol News reported.

In informal discussion with the media, Miftah Ismail said restoration of the economy was an extremely tough job. It required immense sacrifices, he said praying “may Allah have mercy as the country is passing through a critically hard time.”

He said the IMF saw only its own benefit. “We have tested Imran, Zardari and Nawaz, but nothing happened. We will have to change the system,” he said.

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He said the then government made mistakes when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave Pakistan relief during the Covid-19 spread. He said former finance minister Shaukat Tarin once again approached the IMF and presented a mini budget.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader said Ishaq Dar first ignored IMF and then struck a deal with it.

Miftah Ismail said the provincial governments did not collect taxes. He said the Sindh government did not collect agricultural tax. The provinces spent about Rs1,000 billion on education.

He said Pakistan had reached the crisis because of blunders of 75 years.

The former finance minister said Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf Chairman Imran Khan violated the IMF deal by reducing petrol price.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar says that the Chinese Bank ICBC has approved rollover of 1.3 billion US dollar loan after completing the necessary formalities.

In a tweet tonight, he said Pakistan will receive this amount in three instalments. The first instalment of 500 million dollars has been received by the State Bank of Pakistan.

Ishaq Dar said the loan facility will increase forex reserves.

On March 3, Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar has said that there is no plan to impose financial emergency in the country yet.