After the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced a staff-level agreement to extend the rescue package and boost its amount to $7 billion, Pakistan dodged the lingering default; yet, the international community was still exerting pressure to keep Islamabad on track.
Background conversations with diplomatic channels revealed that the international community was always supporting the IMF and did not offer the government any opportunity to withdraw from the negotiations by not providing Pakistan with any form of financial aid.
According to diplomatic sources, Pakistan had been asked to cooperate with the IMF by all of its allies.
They said that the IMF staff regularly updated the international community on the status of the programme negotiations.
The government sources who told The Express Tribune that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had also recommended Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to initially go the IMF path corroborated the information provided through diplomatic channels.
The Sharif family was surprised to receive no money from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, or Qatar despite their long-standing friendships with these monarchies.
