He rubbished the rumours that the officials of multilateral lenders refused to meet him at the spring meetings of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF). He clarified that he postponed his visit to the US on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's request. He emphasised that IMF "cannot stop me from attending the spring meetings".
Dar was expected to attend the spring meetings of the World Bank-IMF that were taking place from April 10 to 16 in Washington.
Meanwhile, he was also scheduled to meet the IMF management for holding talks regarding the removal of bottlenecks for the revival of the derailed $6.5 billion programme.
Islamabad has been negotiating with the IMF since the end of January for the release of $1.1 billion from a $6.5 billion bailout package agreed upon in 2019. To unlock the funding, the government has cut back on subsidies, removed an artificial cap on the exchange rate, added taxes and raised fuel prices.
However, assurances from friendly nations for additional funds have delayed the agreement.