The first indications that a hung parliament will cause economic tremors in Pakistan have become apparent. An announcement from the IMF made it clear that the board’s staff would not be visiting the country to negotiate a $1.10 billion tranche until a new government was formed.

Pakistan is currently party to a ‘Stand-By-Agreement’ that the IMF signed with the PDM government back in June 2023. The SBA worth over $3 billion had been signed after Pakistan and the IMF failed to successfully conclude a programme that had been marred first by the imposition of a petrol subsidy by Imran Khan’s government, and later by the bull-headed negotiation tactics of PDM’s finance minister Ishaq Dar.

The SBA had been signed as a sort of........

© Profit