PM For 2nd Time, Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif Faces An Even Tougher Task

NDTV News:

When Shehbaz Sharif first became Pakistan’s prime minister two years ago, he had to persuade a fractious coalition and an angry public to swallow unpopular measures in order to save the nation from default. This time it’s worse.

Shehbaz was named Sunday as the new premier of the world’s fifth-most-populous country after his elder brother and party leader Nawaz unexpectedly passed the baton to him.

The younger Sharif’s position is daunting. Supporters of his jailed rival Imran Khan won the most seats in the February poll and Sharif only regained power thanks to a shaky coalition. He needs to renew a loan with the International Monetary Fund by April to keep the economy afloat – a task that’s likely to fuel public unrest. And he must placate a powerful military that once exiled him.

But the 72-year-old politician has been here before. When he first came to power in 2022, his predecessor Khan had agreed to subsidize fuel prices weeks before he was ousted, placating a population squeezed by Asia’s fastest-rising inflation, but costing the government more than it paid to run the entire federal civil administration. That stalled an IMF bailout that was seen as essential to keeping the economy intact.

At the time, Sharif was informed weeks before taking the premiership that he needed to raise fuel prices to clinch the IMF deal and save the country from default.

“He was convinced really from day one,” said Miftah Ismail, Sharif’s former finance minister. “Then one of our ministers convinced him to wait 15 days. And then every time he would be ready, somebody would say, why don’t you wait three more days?”

It took six weeks for Sharif to persuade his coalition partners to raise prices, a delay that cost Pakistan hundreds of millions of dollars. In the end, he managed to secure the $3 billion loan after taking unpopular steps such as removing fuel subsidies and raising energy costs.

Sharif’s “first stint as PM did not bring him brownie points,” said Majyd Aziz, a prominent businessman in Karachi who has met him many times. “He had minimal control or influence over the coalition partners.”

The fuel-price saga highlights the skills Sharif is likely to need as leader of yet another potentially unpopular coalition.

Sharif’s two main allies said they will support the government only on a case-by-case basis. The biggest partner, the center-left Pakistan Peoples Party, led by election rival Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, declined even to join the cabinet.