Congress urges govt to oppose IMF's $1.3 billion loan consideration to Pak

The Congress party on Tuesday said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has scheduled a meeting on May 9 to consider Pakistan’s request for a new $1.3 billion loan, and urged India to strongly oppose this move.

 

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh shared this information on social media platform X, saying, “The IMF has just announced that its Executive Board is meeting on May 9th, 2025, to consider Pakistan's request for a new $1.3 billion loan under the IMF's Resilience and Sustainability Facility. The INC expects India to strongly oppose this assistance.”

 

Ramesh also posted a screenshot of the IMF’s Executive Board calendar that confirms the meeting. According to the schedule, the board will review multiple items, including Pakistan’s request for the new loan and changes in its economic performance targets. 

 

This statement from Congress comes just days after the deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam region, which the party blamed on Pakistan. On April 22, twenty-six tourists were killed in the attack.

 

Initially, The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of the banned Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility. But later, TRF issued a statement saying, “TRF unequivocally denies any involvement in the Pahalgam incident. Any attribution of this act to TRF is false, hasty.” 

 

In a recent interview with Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif questioned India’s claims and called for an international investigation. “I think Russia or China or even Western countries can play a very, very positive role in this crisis and they can even set up an investigation team that should be assigned this job to investigate whether India or Modi is lying or he is telling the truth,” he said.

 

India has raised the issue at the United Nations (UN), describing itself as the “victim of cross border terrorism.” India also highlighted the Pakistani minister’s comments as an open admission of supporting terror.

 

Ambassador Yojna Patel, India’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, said this was not surprising. “It exposed Pakistan as a rogue state that has been fuelling global terrorism,” she said. “The world can no longer turn a blind eye,” she added.