IMF defends $1 billion loan to debt-ridden Pakistan after India's opposition

Pakistan during its conflict with India over Operation Sindoor - a military strike on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) - had requested $1 billion loan from International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was granted despite opposition from India. The IMF has now justified its bailout package saying Pakistan had met all the targets as laid down by the global body as part of the funding criteria.

Responding to a question by reporters on why and on what criteria Pakistan was granted the loan IMF said, Pakistan had last year itself signed a deal for $7 billion under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

"The first review was planned for the first quarter of 2025. And consistent with that timeline, on March 25 of 2025, the IMF staff and the Pakistani authorities reached a staff-level agreement on the first review for the EFF. That agreement, that staff-level agreement, was then presented to our Executive Board, which completed the review on May 9. As a result, Pakistan received the disbursement at that time," explained IMF's director of the communications department, Julie Kozack.

"Our Board found that Pakistan had indeed met all of the targets. It had made progress on some of the reforms, and for that reason, the Board went ahead and approved the program,' she further said.

The IMF's justification comes days after India opposed the loan request by Pakistan saying Islamabad harbours terrorists and uses them to launch attacks against Indian citizens.

Jaishankar slams Pak

Meanwhile, India's External affairs minister S jaishankar in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant on Thursday (May 23) reiterated India's stance against terrorism.

"The most notorious terrorists on the United Nations (UN) sanctions list are all in Pakistan. They operate in the big cities, in broad daylight. Their addresses are known. Their activities are known. Their mutual contacts are known. So let's not pretend that Pakistan is not involved. The state is involved. The army is up to its neck in it," Jaishankar said.