The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the disbursement of $1 billion to Pakistan. The approval came following IMF’s review of Pakistan’s economic reform program under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The IMF also considered a fresh Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) lending program ($1.4 billion) for Pakistan.
India abstained from the vote on Pakistan’s loan programs, citing terrorism concerns. Several media reports said citing government sources that India abstained from the IMF vote as the system does not allow a formal “no” vote. However, Subhash Chandra Garg, ex-Finance Secretary of India and former Executive Director at the World Bank, refuted these claims.
In an exclusive interview with News24‘s Akshat Mittal, Garg said, “No, this is not true.” He remarked, “Countries can vote against, countries can abstain, or countries can vote in favour. There is absolutely no such provision that no one can vote against.”
Garg further said, “In fact, a lot goes on there. Americans have a kind of veto which allows them to block proposals by voting against them, even if an overwhelming majority is voting in favour. As a result, many of those proposals don’t go through.”
He expressed surprise that India abstained from voting instead of voting against the IMF’s loan to Pakistan. “This one did surprise me also – why did India not vote against and only abstained? So, that is the reason we don’t know, that will be for the government to explain. But this cannot be a reason that you were not allowed to vote against.”
