'IMF accord should be presented before parliament,' says Umar after becoming NA panel chairman

Former finance minister Asad Umar was on Monday appointed the chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance.

Umar — who was removed from the office of the finance minister last month — was unanimously chosen after his name was proposed by PPP's Naveed Qamar and seconded by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dreshak.

Following his appointment, Umar said that the bailout agreement reached between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be presented before the parliament.

He said the government has to take practical measures in order to reach an agreement and therefore "the government should be questioned regarding this accord."

The former minister also vowed to inform the public about the discussions he had with the IMF regarding the programme before his ouster.

"What discussions were held with the IMF [and] what we have achieved through the programme [...] I will tell the nation about this," Umar said.

He assured the committee that no negotiations had taken place with the IMF regarding Pakistan's defence budget.

Loaded with upfront policy actions worth over Rs700 billion, Pakistan and the IMF had finally reached a staff-level agreement on Sunday about a $6 billion bailout to implement an “ambitious structural reform agenda” over a period of 39 months.

“After negotiations over many months, Pakistan and the IMF have reached a staff level agreement that would be approved by the IMF executive board,” announced Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the Prime Minister’s adviser on Finance and Revenue, on national television.