![down at the crossroads song down at the crossroads song](https://images.hungama.com/c/1/857/4e8/60649530/60649530_300x300.jpg)
Increasingly now, signs are suggesting that the government intends to try and renegotiate the terms of the Fund programme. He was more mindful of his commitments to his creditors than he was to the demands of his party MNAs. Thus far Hafeez Sheikh kept a tight lid on these expenditures, making him a deeply unpopular figure within his own party. In order to be ready to face their constituents and voters in 2023 - a reality they will face less than two years from now - they argue they need to start spending on uplift schemes and projects immediately. The prime minister has been coming under increasing pressure from within his own party to allow greater spending by his MNAs in their constituencies to help shore up their electoral prospects in the forthcoming elections. If they choose to stick to the commitments that former finance minister Hafeez Sheikh gave to the IMF that won approval from the IMF board on March 24, they will have to sharply curb spending, raise power tariffs and fuel prices, increase taxes and roll back the many supports they have been providing to industry ever since the Covid crisis, supports that people in industry have grown accustomed to. The two cannot go hand in hand for very long because the first involves tightening the belt and the latter involves increased spending, so a choice has to be made.Įditorial: The govt can't grow the economy rapidly if it has to implement harsh IMF stabilisation policies The crossroads has been reached by the resumption of the IMF programme, and the choice the government faces is whether to proceed down the path of deficit reduction as committed to the Fund or chart a course with the coming elections in mind. THE government now finds itself at the crossroads and whatever path it chooses, it will likely create history.