Months after the IMF greenlighted the next three-year loan programme, even though it made the government bend over backwards for it, the ruling party appears stuck in a quagmire. That’s because, despite all the limitations of IMF’s so-called prior conditions, the program is yet to receive the official rubber stamp. For now, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is hopeful about talks moving in the right direction, especially as he eyes securing deals with Middle Eastern banks and is encouraged by positive ratings from international credit agencies. Sure, the deal will enable the government to borrow more and at better rates, but everybody knows that none of it, neither this $7 billion nor other loans it will facilitate, is going to do anything for the ordinary people whatsoever. On the contrary, they are going to have to pay for it, quite literally, since the additional taxes and withdrawal of subsidies that made the resumption of the EFF possible will go out of their pockets and into the state’s vaults. It ought to worry the authorities that inflation is not coming down, nor is it likely to in the near term. And with the government preparing to present a wide array of relief programmes in a few months, which will have to give primacy to growth, chances of prices spiralling even more out of control become that much stronger. It is high time that instead of painting rosy pictures and ignoring ground realities, like blaming only international commodity prices for Pakistan’s particular level of inflation; not giving much attention to the collapse of the rupee, or the chronic failure to improve the trade balance, those at the helm of the affairs prioritise setting the record straight. If things work out as they expect, there will be little to worry about, of course, but there could be a severe public backlash if they don’t. Therefore, even as people anticipate the money trickling into the coffers, they wait to see what comes next with bated breath. *