Gul Panag Slams Pakistani Journalist Over IMF Loan: 'Congrats On Another Loan'

Actress Gul Panag slams Pakistani journalist over IMF loan celebrations, highlighting India’s repayment history and questioning Pakistan’s repeated bailouts and economic track record.

Actress Gul Panag recently made headlines for her sharp response to a Pakistani journalist who was celebrating Pakistan securing a $2 billion financial assistance package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The journalist, Shahbaz Rana, posted on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle: “In a humiliating defeat for India, the IMF Executive Board has approved a $1 billion second loan tranche. India unsuccessfully tried to block the approval by the IMF board.”

Gul Panag, not one to shy away from expressing her views, quote-tweeted his post and replied: “Sir, congratulations on another loan. With respect, we don’t need that money. You do. FYI, we have not taken any financial assistance from the IMF since 1993. Repayments of all the loans taken from the International Monetary Fund were completed on 31 May, 2000.”

 

Her response quickly went viral and sparked a new debate online regarding the financial dependency of countries on international institutions.

IMF Assistance to Pakistan: India Raises Concerns

The IMF recently reviewed a $1 billion tranche under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan. In addition, a new $1.3 billion loan was proposed under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).

An official statement from the Indian government clarified India’s stance:“As an active and responsible member of the IMF, India raised concerns about the effectiveness of IMF programs in Pakistan. These concerns were based on Pakistan’s history of non-compliance, poor implementation, and the potential misuse of funds, particularly in funding state-sponsored cross-border terrorism.”

India further pointed out:

Pakistan has received IMF disbursements in 28 of the last 35 years since 2019, Pakistan has had four separate IMF loan arrangements.

The continuous bailout cycle suggests deeper structural issues in Pakistan’s economic governance.

The government emphasized that had the previous IMF programs been effective, Pakistan would not require repeated assistance, casting doubt on both the monitoring and execution of these financial packages.