Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva on Sunday. During this, he discussed the new loan program for the country facing cash crisis. According to Pakistani media, in a meeting on the sidelines of a special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Sharif thanked the IMF for supporting Pakistan in obtaining additional arrangement (SBA) of US $ 3 billion.
It was the first meeting of Shehbaz Sharif and Georgieva since their re-election, state-run PTV News said in a post on ‘X’. They last met in June 2023 at the summit for a new global financial agreement in Paris. The IMF Executive Board is expected to meet on Monday to decide on the final tranche of $1.1 billion under the Standby Arrangement (SBA).
The two leaders discussed further programmes. Georgieva shared the IMF’s perspective on the ongoing loan program with Pakistan, including the review process. Pakistan had received three billion dollars in the IMF program in June last year. Which helped it avoid default.
Prime Minister Sharif participated in a panel discussion on ‘Redefining the Global Health Agenda’ during a special meeting of the WEF. During this he mentioned the global inequality in health care. Sharif said that when he went to Saudi Arabia in 2003, he was hit by a very terrible cancer. He said he was then flown to New York and had to undergo surgery at a cost of thousands of dollars. He said, how many people in my country can afford such expensive treatment, not very many.
Shahbaz said that when he returned to Pakistan, he was elected chief minister of Punjab province and his government built hospitals specializing in kidney and liver diseases as well as cancer. He said, I think the first and biggest problem today is global inequality. Sharif said that the Corona epidemic exposed these imbalances and shortcomings.