Pakistan IMF bailout

Amid stalled negotiations over restarting a bailout package, the IMF has criticized the government for failing to implement a more fair tax system.

Delaying the IMF program has negatively affected investor confidence, increased inflation, and hindered growth prospects.

The government's bid to revive a $6 billion bailout led it to hike taxes on natural gas for domestic and industrial consumers from 16 percent to 112 percent.

Governments come and go, but Pakistan's economic woes – and its love/hate relationship with the IMF – remain constant.

However, the funding body's representatives say that additional measures are needed to bring the budget in line with its objectives.

Rapprochement could help ease Pakistan’s troubles with negotiating loans from the IMF.

The new government could either take the decision of cutting fuel subsidies or call for fresh elections and leave that tough decision to an interim government.

Its sentencing of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed is grounded in economic realism.

Issue de-linkage is the need of the hour when it comes to Islamabad-Washington relations.

While there are positive signs, the IMF bailout conditions continue to pinch for average Pakistanis.

This wasn’t Pakistan’s first IMF bailout, and it won’t be its last – unless the IMF changes its approach.