International Monetary Fund’s Mission Chief to Pakistan Harald Finger the other day said that the Emerging Markets newspaper does not belong to IMF amid revelations that five state-owned firms partially funded the publication’s latest edition, according to a report in the local media.
Last week, after the newspaper presented the Best Finance Minister of South Asia Award to Ishaq Dar and Best country in South Asia in infrastructure development to Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, government functionaries jumped to congratulate them for winning such a ‘prestigious’ award to which Harald Finger said that Emerging Markets is an ‘independent publication’.
Both the respective ministries then claimed that the newspaper is a World Bank and IMF publication and that it was a matter of honour for the country that the publication bestowed these awards to Pakistani political personalities.
Planning ministry’s claims
The planning ministry also stated the paper’s standing by claiming that it was an ‘international institution’.
“Emerging Markets, which is an international institution, has declared Pakistan the best infrastructure development country in South Asia,” the ministry said. It further stated that Ahsan Iqbal received an invitation to Washington to receive the award
Funding
In terms of the papers funding it was stated that National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) and Pak-Arab Refinery Company (PARCO) gave advertisements to the paper last month.
The NBP spokesman insisted that the bank gave the advertisement due to its prestigious global standing. He further stated that nobody from the government pressured the bank to give the advertisement.
Newspaper version
“The Pakistan supplement, along with other supplements in the newspaper like Palestine, Vietnam and Argentina are sponsored content,” said Sara Posnasky, the magazine’s Head of Operations while responding to questions through email.
“Our awards are entirely independent of all sponsored content and advertisements,” said Posnasky. She further 0said that the publication has produced 60,000 copies over this year, which suggests that it is not a widely published magazine.
Hilarious stuff.
The world is not laughing with you, they are laughing AT you.
Pakistan is setting new benchmarks everyday.
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