Published June 26, 2026 Updated a day ago By Dr Omer Javed Here, it needs to be pointed out that it is highly strange to see that the government has apparently not pursued enhanced special drawing rights (SDR) allocation from International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the same lines it received in August 2022, as part of the overall enhanced SDR allocation received globally to countries. Given the highly significant impact of commodity shock, especially in terms of oil prices during the conflict, especially to net oil importing countries like Pakistan, while it was expected that IMF will announce such an enhanced allocation at the global level, or at least for net oil importing countries, nevertheless it would have made sense that the country budgeted some amount to highlight to IMF its intent in this regard. If an effort has already been made with IMF to convince them to release such an amount, and the response has been in the negative, that should have been shared with the public at large so as to make clear that this otherwise important step that the government should take has in fact been taken. So, while it is important to make fiscal deficit sustainable, it is important to understand the positive consequences of sustainable primary deficit, especially in the context of high level of development needs of a developing country. This may be done through rationalizing non-development (current) expenditure, reducing interest payment-related expenditure, enhancing tax base, applying creative taxation – for instance, meaningful wealth tax, and taxing windfall profits of energy companies – lowering losses of SOEs through restructuring, meeting their financing needs through creative solution, and as earlier indicted, better rationalizing expenditure responsibilities of Centre and federating units as per the 18th Constitutional Amendment. In the absence of significant progress made on above aspects, for instance, among possible others, reaching primary surplus has meant a reduction in development expenditure. Having said that, as per budget estimates for the upcoming fiscal year, primary surplus (fiscal austerity) is still being targeted at Rs.2.8 trillion (2 percent…