IMF, WB Play “Good Cop, Bad Cop” for VAT: Act II

A follow-up to:
IMF, WB Play “Good Cop, Bad Cop” for VAT

But this time they are switching roles: this time, it is WB playing the role of the ‘good cop’ and IMF is starring as the ‘bad cop’:

WB hails improvement in Pak economy

ISLAMABAD (PPI) – World Bank appreciated “signs of improvement” in Pakistan’s economy which has potential to grow.

WB will provide all possible assistance to Pakistan in facing economic challenges, said visiting WB VP for South Asia Region Ms Isabel Guerrero in meeting Friday with Finance Minister, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. World Bank wants to see Pakistan moving on path of development with a vibrant economy, she observed.

Dr. Sheikh said World Bank played “crucial role in economic development of Pakistan and we expect this relationship will continue in future as well,” He spoke of challenges faced by economy, like inflationary pressure, energy deficit and circular debt. The government has taken measures to counter these. He said in order to maintain macro-economic stability, policies of fiscal, debt reduction and reducing inflation to single digit are being followed. For growth acceleration, government introduced structural reforms, productivity, efficiency enhancement process, improvement in governance and encouraging private investment….

Now compare that to IMF’s barf the very same day to the very same person:

Get your act together, IMF tells Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has for the first time conveyed a strongly-worded message to Pakistan, asking it to get its act together if it wants to keep the Fund’s $11.3 billion programme on track – a tough task which involves achieving some unrealistic targets set in the budget.

Finance ministry officials said that the strict warning was given by the visiting IMF Mission Chief for Pakistan, Adnan Mazarei, in a meeting with Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. The meeting started on a bitter note, as the minister could not make it to the venue on time, which made the IMF representative angry as he had to wait for over half an hour, said insiders.

The IMF thinks that the government has set over-ambitious targets in the budget and is not taking the required actions to achieve them, said the sources.

Mazarei termed the budget deficit target and its financing plan “risky” and told the finance minister in explicit terms that Pakistan did not have a secure “financing plan for 4 per cent budget deficit target”.…

😛

IMF, WB Play “Good Cop, Bad Cop” for VAT

Economic stability taking hold, says IMF
Actually the “good news” is not good news for us but for them:

Political uncertainty, chronic insecurity and a budget deficit inflated by spending to tackle a Taliban insurgency are all threats to recovery, but the outlook is far brighter than when Pakistan was on the brink of default in 2008.

(Translation: We are getting our interest payments — no matter how the government screws it’s own people for it — and they have promised to squeeze more blood of their citizens, hence the “outlook is far brighter [for us]”)
WB sets 48-hour deadline for $300 million loan
Asks Pakistan to hike power tariff by 6 pc, make progress on VAT

Of course VAT is no where closer to being accepted:
Parliament nod to VAT in limbo

But you know it will be shoved through, parliament approval or no approval:
Impose VAT for IMF loan

The United States has urged Pakistan to impose Value Added Tax (VAT) from July 1 in order to get the next loan tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), leaving Islamabad helpless in its efforts to convince the IMF to continue the $11.3 billion programme without VAT.

Put pretenses must be kept:
PM invites CMs to resolve differences over VAT

Keep in mind “various political parties, all trade bodies and chambers of commerce and industry in the country have unanimously rejected this new tax”

RELATED:
Spill More Blood! Good Dog!! Suck More Blood! Good, GOOD Dog!!

Another Mush Bitch Selected By ‘Democracy’

Amazing! The guy who helped rape the country as privatization minister under Musharraf has been selected to be new Finance Advisor (to replace Shaukat Tareen). I am sure IMF/WB are delighted!

Wah Ray Democracy!

But no surprise, really. Remember the four governors of all four provinces are still those installed by Musharraf, the policies being followed are all those of Musharraf, the COAS is the one selected by Musharraf. So who needs Musharraf. It does remind me of the old Eric Margolis article ‘Zardari is the New Musharraf’

UPDATE:

Just financial wizardry that we will see in the days to come can well be gauged by today’s article by Mohammad Malick.

A Quickie: Tareen Says My Business More Important Than The Country

If you are to buy the official spin that “Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin was working tirelessly to help the country in a tough time (and did wonderful job doing it)”, does it not follow that his stepping down “to focus on his private business interests” kind of shows what he holds more important.

Of course he was always working for his personal business interests and those of IMF/WB — WB, by the way, is his business partner and joint owner of Silk Bank:

“In March 2008, a consortium comprising the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Bank Muscat, Nomura and Sinthos Capital, led by Tarin and another Pakistani banker, Sadeq Saeed, bought an 86.55 per cent stake in Silk Bank for about $213 million.”

(IFC is the private investment arm of the World Bank)

This also means a government bailout of Silk Bank is on the way so in effect you and I will be borrowing money from WB to pay WB (Silk Bank). And what do we get in return? Liability to pay the principal and interest for this bailout…

P.S. Oh, and don’t forget the IMF  loan of $11.3 billion (plus interest) and the IMF-enforced ‘conditionalities’ that you are enjoying. Make sure you send a “Thank You!” note to Tarin 😉