It’s no surprise that the new government has decided to waste no time in trying to revive the stalled IMF bailout program. Political parties that have come to power more than once understand it best, after all, that the time to rubbish the Fund is when you are in the opposition. Yet, as PTI also discovered over the last few years, once you are on the hot seat, the international “lender of last resort” automatically becomes one of your best friends. And so, after lambasting Imran Khan for literally eating his words and approaching the IMF for the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and vowing to straighten things out when PML-N came to power, one of PM Shahbaz Sharif’s first decisions has been to go right back to the Fund for Balance of Payments (BoP) support. Yet the sailing might not be as smooth as he might expect. The economy was left so badly crippled by one of Imran Khan’s last decisions as PM, which was to freeze petrol and electricity prices till the next budget, that Ogra needs an increase per litre of more than a hundred rupees just to balance the demand-supply equation of petrol. Of course, the new administration cannot do that, because it would amount to delivering the administration the kiss of death right off the mark. Hence, the decision to extend subsidies and absorb the losses for the time being. But that’s a big problem as well if the EFF is to be revived; because the Fund will tolerate no subsidies whatsoever. The new administration could pray for the international situation to push commodity prices down somehow, but not only is that very unlikely in the immediate future, but it would also be poor politics to rely on unforeseen exogenous relief to get IMF’s debt flowing again. The fact is that there is no escaping more debt right now. Whatever political mileage the new opposition has been able to squeeze from the new PM’s statement about beggars not being choosers, it simply cannot be denied that countries that flirt with default all the time make for textbook beggars in the international credit market; and Pakistan is not very far from the top of that list. Therefore, there is going to be much more fiscal pain down the road as the government goes right back to the lender, and prepares to phase out all subsidies for it. *