India-Pakistan tensions: 'IMF board should look deep within themselves,' says Vikram Misri ahead of critical May 9 meet

Ahead of the critical International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington, India hinted that it could urge the international financial body to exercise caution on its bailout package to the cash-strapped Pakistan.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said at a MEA briefing yesterday that India's executive director at IMF will put forward New Delhi's position during the meeting of the global body on Friday. He further said that the IMF board should look "deep within" and consider facts before bailing out the country.

"The decisions of the Board are a different matter, you know, the process through which they are made. But I think the case with regard to Pakistan should be self-evident to those people who generously open their pocket to bail out this country," Misri said.

He further questioned how many of the 24 bailout packages that Pakistan has received from the IMF have reached a successful conclusion. The IMF has provided bailout packages to Paksitan to help it avoid bankruptcy. 

 “…I think you would also have an idea of how many of those programmes have reached successful conclusions. Probably, not many. So, I think this is a decision that (IMF) Board members have to take by looking deep within themselves and looking at the facts,” Misri commented. 

IMF meeting on Pakistan today

Parameswaran Iyer, Executive Director at the World Bank and temporary nominee director for India on the IMF Board, will attend the important Board meeting on May 9. Iyer was appointed after the early termination of Krishnamurthy V Subramanian as the Executive Director at the IMF, six months before the end of his three-year term.

The board meeting will consider Pakistan's economic performance under an IMF-supported program and decide on the approval of loan disbursements, program extensions or policy adjustments. 

India's financial strike against Pakistan

The foreign secretary's remarks follow rising tensions between India and Pakistan after New Delhi's military strikes on terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir on Wednesday.

The Narendra Modi-led Government of India is urging multi-lateral financial agencies, including the IMF and the World Bank, to have a relook at the funding and loans given to Pakistan. New Delhi is also urging the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to place Islamabad back on the grey list. 

India has amped up its attack against Pakistan on multiple fronts after the dastardly terror attack in Pahalgam claimed 26 lives on April 22.