(February 02-2023)Former President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Dr. Shahid Rasheed Butt on Thursday said runaway inflation, record retreat of the rupee against the dollar and oil price hike have exposed the weakness of economic policies.
Due to the eroding rupee, wrong policies, and oil price hikes in the international market, the price of oil will have to increase again soon, he said.
Shahid Rasheed Butt said that our so-called economists would have been exposed earlier
if such a severe financial crisis had come a few years ago in the country.
He said that if we look at the statements of economic experts in the last two decades, Pakistan should have been the most developed country in the world, but the reality is the opposite.
This shows that these economic experts are actually artists who take loans, give benefits to the elite, and comfort the people with reassuring statements.
Shahid Rashid Butt said that twenty-three IMF programs prove that the ruling elite is not able to run the country and that only international institutions can do that.
He said that if the shipping companies blacklist Pakistan, it could be more harmful than a nuclear attack on the country. The country is in need of an economic emergency like never before, but if the politicians do not have time to think for the country.
He said that our policymakers lack the ability to take timely decisions. Pakistan has delayed the decision to buy oil from Russia for more than a year and now it will not get oil at the price that India, Saudi Arabia, and other countries get because Russia is now in a much better position.
The opportunity to get cheap oil has also been missed while the IMF program has also been delayed by several months which are unforgivable crimes, he said.
