If a polity fettered by non-representative forces wasn’t bad enough, we now have to contend with an international establishment meddling in matters political as well, and quite openly at that.
The IMF’s meetings with mainstream national political parties were rather inappropriate, and a brazen level of meddling in the politics of a sovereign nation. This paper does not have a track record of alarmist hypernationalist venting at the smallest of incidents. But we have to call out what has happened for what it was.
Gone are the days when the Fund had to meet primarily with officials of the Economic Affairs Division within the Finance Ministry, with just some representation from the finance and revenue divisions. No such respect for form now, with meetings with the political class, ostensibly for some sort of assurances about future adherence to programs.
One gets it; the IMF is, at the end of the day, and to strip it of all its complexity, a money lender. And the latter do have an interest in getting its money back. It would have its apprehensions about fiscally reckless populism, like what the previous regime did with petrol subsidies. Or like the current regime did with petrol “cross subsidies.”
And it is equally distressing that some of the political parties are, for all practical purposes, endorsing this position. For instance, the PTI’s Imran Khan is treating the Fund like it does the military leadership: he appeals to them for favourable outcomes. The former premier is reported to have asked the IMF officials for an assurance on election dates. But his behaviour still isn’t as bad as that of the incumbent prime minister, who allowed this in the first place.
Since our financial woes aren’t going to resolve any time soon, and since there are countries around the world that can lend a billion dollars without breaking a sweat, would this mean they get to asking political parties for deals in the future as well?
