ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: Pakistan chastised the United States on Wednesday over its threats to hold up coalition support fund reimbursements, saying the amount belonged to Islamabad and its disbursements should be speeded up.

“It is Pakistan’s money and belongs to the people of Pakistan. It is not a charity or donation. We will recover every outstanding dollar,” said Finance minister Ishaq Dar at a press conference on Wednesday. He said it was not Pakistan of the past and promised to get this money within two to four weeks.

The minister was asked to comment on a background briefing to journalists by the US Embassy in Islamabad in which US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel was reported to have asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief Gen Raheel Sharif to keep land routes open for US and Nato cargo, otherwise CSF reimbursements could be held up.

In his opening remarks, Mr Dar said some visible payments were due over the next few months. These would improve the country’s reserves position, he said, mentioning $850 million from the US on account of CSF among them.

He said disbursement of $381m from the US was due this month, while bills for the January-March period had been submitted to the US. About $790m is due from the US for eight months of previous services. He said the government was in talks with the US for early reimbursements.

The finance minister said in his recent meeting with Mr Hagel, he impressed that “these delays in CSF payments are not proper”. Mr Dar wondered how the agreements were finalised in the past with the US, saying these payments should have automatically gone into an Escrow account.

The minister said it was strange that Pakistan was still fighting for reimbursements it had expended 14 months ago. He said he had also directed the quarters concerned to submit bills of up to Sept 30 immediately to the US. “Therefore, total outstanding amount against the US is about $1.5 billion now”.

Mr Hagel appreciated his position and asked “us to address our lethargy in submission of bills and they would fast-track disbursements”, he added.

IRAN PIPELINE: In reply to a question on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, Mr Dar said Iran was not ready to finance the pipeline, contrary to claims made by certain elements. “Some people are just fond of laying foundation stones even though there was no financial close and no clues of funding,” he said without naming former president Zardari’s visit to Iran to lay foundation stone of the pipeline.

Mr Dar said it emerged during his meeting with his Iranian counterpart in the US that Tehran had no plans to offer $500m. “During a meeting with the finance minister of Iran in the presence of the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and secretaries of finance and economic affairs, I raised the issue and asked about promised $500m and if this figure could be increased. I was told (by the Iranian minister) that Iran could not finance the project.”

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: The finance minister said he would propose a constitutional amendment to make it binding on the caretaker government to clear the backlog of decision-making of the previous government before transferring power to a new elected government with a clean slate to put the responsibility where it belonged.

He conceded that the people faced inflation, but said it was because of clearance of the backlog. He claimed that the caretaker government had given a commitment to the IMF in April to impose Rs200bn of fresh taxes and the summary had been submitted to the president, but a decision was not taken.

Likewise, the international lenders were given an assurance about an increase in electricity tariff by Rs6 per unit and even a summary was also moved but then shelved. Then they promised to collect Rs2,050bn taxes, which ended up at Rs1,936bn.

“We had to honour these commitments soon after coming to power,” he said, offering to make public summaries forwarded by the interim government and rejected by the former president.

FOREIGN INFLOWS: The minister contended that economic conditions were well under control and in some cases major targets, including that of economic growth, had been surpassed. He said the recent dip in foreign exchange was not unexpected and was projected in the budget.

The foreign exchange position would improve from now onwards and the rupee depreciation was already on a reverse gear. He said he would hold a conclusive meeting with Etisalat on Dec 18 following his discussions with UAE’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed for payment of $800m on account of PTCL’s sale and held up for seven years now.

Mr Dar said the auction for spectrum telecom would be held in February next year for which the government had issued binding timelines to the Pakistan Telecom Authority to generate $1.2-1.5bn.

Likewise, the government was preparing to launch of $500m worth of Eurobond and $500m remittance-based rupee bond to the Pakistani diaspora, followed by fast-track capital market-based disinvestment of government shares to end up at $20bn in three years.

ECONONOMIC INDICATORS: The minister said the government had decided to announce quarterly results for economic performance and the first quarter of the current year (July-September) results were very encouraging.

For example, the economic growth rate stood at 5 per cent of GDP, compared to 2.9pc of the same period last year. This was supported by 5.7pc growth in services compared to 2.9pc of last year.

Industry grew by 5.2pc compared to 3.1pc last year, while agriculture grew by 2.5pc compared to 2.7pc last year.

He said the industry and services surpassed targets by wide margins in the first quarter while the agriculture growth target was missed which required the government to focus on this sector now. The improvement was because of better power supply, he said.