Pakistan is running on debt, has 25 agreements with IMF, still there is starvation in the country… Economy is in bad shape

New Delhi: When Pakistan is in trouble, it starts begging in front of its friendly countries and global lenders. Something similar has been seen during the tension between India and Pakistan which has reached its peak. In response to the Pahalgam terrorist attack, India took such action that Pakistan started pleading for financial help from China to the International Monetary Fund. Meanwhile, China was seen to be silent, but on Friday it got a big relief from the IMF.

The global body has approved the release of an installment of about 1 billion US dollars to Pakistan under the existing Extended Fund Facility. Pakistan has signed 25 agreements with the IMF in the last 7 decades, but despite the help of billions of dollars, the condition of the economy remains the same.

Terror factory, economy in shambles
A huge financial aid has been given to Pakistan, which runs a terror factory, at a time when its nefarious activities against India are being condemned all over the world. Not only this, its attacks are also being foiled by India’s strong attack. This decision of the IMF is being criticized not only in India but all over the world. If we look at history, it has been getting huge financial aid not only from the IMF, but also from the World Bank to the Asian Development Bank, but the condition of the country’s people and the country’s economy has only gone from bad to worse. Despite continuous aid, it is around $350 billion and in this case, it is nowhere in front of India’s $4 trillion economy. The direct reason behind this is that the aid received from global bodies is used more for the growth of terrorism rather than for the growth of the country.

Even before the IMF meeting on Friday, India had reiterated that the financial aid given to Pakistan indirectly helps its intelligence agencies and terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, which have been carrying out attacks on India. However, the International Monetary Fund still approved financial aid to Pakistan.

So many loan agreements since 1958
Pakistan started getting bailout packages from the International Monetary Fund seven decades ago in 1958 and the first bailout agreement was signed on December 8, 1958 for an amount of $ 30 million under the stand-by arrangement and since then 25 loan agreements have been signed. It is clear that Pakistan’s economy has been running on loans for a long time, not just today. If we look at the data of IMF, the total amount approved for Pakistan during this period was $ 44.57 billion and out of this, the global body has distributed $ 28.2 billion so far. Out of this, Pakistan currently owes $ 8.3 billion to the IMF.

The biggest bailout approved by the IMF for Pakistan so far was under the stand-by arrangement in November 2008, which was $ 9.78 billion. At that time also, Pakistan was given a loan to protect the poor of the country and to stabilize the economy and Pakistan withdrew $ 6.7 billion from it. At the same time, the most recent loan was approved in September 2024, which is effective till 24 October 2027. Under this, a loan agreement of $ 7.19 billion was signed. The loan approved by the IMF for Pakistan amid Indo-Pak War Tension is part of this. Let us tell you that till May 2025, Pakistan is the fifth largest borrower of the IMF.

Loans have been received from here too
Not only the IMF, but according to the annual report of the State Bank of Pakistan, the country has been getting substantial loans from all global financial institutions. The Asian Development Bank is the largest among these. Pakistan received $ 2.3 billion from the bank in FY23 and $ 1.3 billion in FY24. Apart from this, the World Bank also distributed $ 2.1 billion in FY 23 and $ 2.22 billion to Pakistan in FY 24. Even after this, Pakistan’s economic crisis did not seem to reduce.

Will the situation improve with the latest help?
It is clear from these figures that Pakistan, which has been asking for financial help with a bowl for decades, has failed to improve its financial condition even by using it. In such a situation, it is difficult to say whether the latest loan from the IMF will bring any change in the economy. Many rating agencies have also warned Pakistan that it is not in a position to withstand any war. Moody’s has even said that if Pakistan messes with India, then there will be huge pressure on its growth rate and forex reserves.