'We may not need IMF in 6 months': Pakistan claims Islamabad getting record orders for jets after India war

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif recently grabbed headlines when he claimed that it would not need the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) assistance in 6 months.

He claimed that there was a record surge in defence orders received by Pakistan, including the Chinese-origin JF-17 fighter jet, following a four-day mini-war with India in May 2025. 

"Our aircraft have been tested, and we are receiving so many orders that Pakistan may not need the IMF in six months," Asif said in an interview with GeoTV.

Further, Khawaja Asif described the Pakistan Air Force's role during the standoff as "outstanding". He said that the 4-day mini-war demonstrated Pakistan's "resolve and military effectiveness" to the international community.

Not just Asif, Pakistan's ISPR has also claimed that Bangladesh has expressed a "potential interest" in the JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft from Pakistan. Bangladesh air force chief Hasan Mahmood Khan and his Pakistani counterpart Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu met in Islamabad on Tuesday. 

Besides this, the JF-17 and J-10 have been ordered by countries like Azerbaijan and Libya. 

India has maintained that Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) contacted his Indian counterpart on May 10, seeking a ceasefire after Indian Air Force strikes that damaged key Pakistani airbases.

Are Asif's claims rooted in reality, or do they stem from delusion? The claim of Pakistan not needing the IMF sounds simply untrue. At present, Pakistan is under a stringent $7-billion IMF bailout programme, which requires compliance with wide-ranging structural reforms. 

In December 2025, Pakistan was forced to sell its national carrier — Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) — for ₹4,300 crore after the IMF forced the Shehbaz Sharif government to privatise the carrier. 

The multinational financial body linked loans to fiscal prudence and divestment of assets. The Arif Habib Group emerged as the highest bidder among the three pre-qualified bidders. 

Not just this, Asif also said that the Pakistan government is weighing options to convince the IMF to allow relaxations in macroeconomic and fiscal parameters for the 2026-27 budget, as per Pakistani daily The News International. 

Senior journalist Ayesha Siddiqa said that Khawaja Asif is "sounding like a lot of journalists that claim to cover defence -- simply can't tell the back of a plane and a submarine from its front. Pakistan has around a 35% share of the JF-17 Thunder airframe. That doesn’t leave enough money that could rescue Pakistan from the IMF".

Pakistan has total public debt and liabilities stand at around PKR 81 trillion ($280-300 billion) and an external debt of approximately PKR 26 trillion. In FY25, servicing these debt obligations consumed PKR 8.9 trillion, more than half of the country's total federal revenues.