The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Monday said Pakistan’s economy was destroyed by so-called economic experts who acted as economic hitmen to fulfill their political agenda.
The country has been under the control of plunderers for many years while one economic hitman after another is ruining the country’s economy and there is no one to stop them, it said.
Our representatives are traveling around the world for a billion dollars to hear denials from everywhere which is embarrassing, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President of PEW.
He said that political and other elite have more money in their foreign accounts than in Pakistan’s exchequer.
Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that the rulers have committed political suicide by expelling former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail otherwise the economic situation would have been stable.
The stubbornness of one person has stalled the IMF program for four months since the expulsion of the former finance minister which has resulted in a loss of almost seven billion dollars.
Miftah would have kept the IMF programme intact and the price of petrol and diesel would not have increased by 35 rupees per liter, which would bring another flood of inflation in the country, he observed.
He said that in a few days, the value of the rupee has been reduced by fifteen percent, which is a clear failure of the policy of the PML-N to stabilize the rupee.
The country is facing gross mismanagement of the ruling coalition and the situation has come to an extent that now onions are considered a luxury.
The government has not been able to do anything except change the NAB law. Overseas Pakistanis are not ready and are sending money through legal channels and they are preferring Handi which is causing huge losses to the country while it will take time to restore their confidence, he noted.
Dr. Mughal recalled that the reluctance of the former prime minister to strike the IMF deal and its decision to disregard the tenets of the agreement with the donor last year are said to be populist decisions that derailed the IMF programme that drove the country to the brink of sovereign default.
Compelled by the twin deficits, the incumbent government revived the IMF Programme and former finance minister Miftah Ismail tried to follow through on the deal by hiking fuel and energy rates.
But, the incumbent Finance Minister avoided IMF’s dictates that further deepen the crisis before surrendering to the IMF’s wishes. The footdragging by the PDM government in complying with the IMF’s conditions was also because of populism, he said.
Talks with IMF are about to begin and Pakistan should urgently complete the 9th review as the government has no choice but to bow to the fund’s demands as it has refused to make any concessions due to its continuous breach of promises.
