Agreement With The IMF Remains Elusive; New Details Emerge Of Bypassed Legislative Procedures For SBP Bill 2021

A legislative process which was bypassed for the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Amendment Bill has placed yet more question marks on Pakistan’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. According to reporting by the News, the bill was supposed to be presented before the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC), but this procedure was skipped due to the “wishes and whims of some powerful elements.”

The SBP bill was passed by the federal cabinet in “10 to 15 minutes,” with a waiver from the CCLC, bypassing the mechanisms for scrutiny, according to the report. It further quotes a top official as saying that the then Adviser to PM on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Governor of the State Bank Dr Reza Baqir and the-Secretary Finance of that time could shed light on why the procedure was omitted.

According to this report, then Secretary Finance Kamran Afzal was prevented from disclosing the changes into the SBP amendment bill 2021.

Earlier this week, the second round of dialogue between Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem and the IMF mission chief for Pakistan Ernesto Ramirez Rigo for the revival of its $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) remained inconclusive. The two sides were unable to reach a consensus on new a draft of the SBP Bill. The IMF representatives asked their Pakistani interlocutors for details regarding the clauses of the bill that were ultra vires the laws of the country.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee has fallen to a historic low vis-à-vis the US dollar, as negotiations with the IMF have dragged on inconclusively.