(February 04-2023)The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Saturday said Pakistan to face default risk for five years as the government is not serious about reducing expenses, increasing investment, and booting exports.
Even if Pakistan is saved from bankruptcy due to the IMF this year, its condition will worsen again next year, it said.
To save Pakistan from bankruptcy, foreign investment of at least fifty billion dollars is needed, said, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President of PEW.
A reduction of ten billion dollars per year in imports or at least a fifty percent increase in exports is required which is not possible, he said.
Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that the government is not serious about reducing its expenditure or increasing its income.
The government does not want to close the shops in by evening, and neither it has any intention to reduce expenditure or improve the investment environment.
Presently some difficult but necessary decisions are being made as there is no other way left for the government, he observed.
He noted that the success of the ninth review of the IMF will open gates for new loans, after which the money will be squandered for political interests in such a way that the tenth review of the IMF may face problems.
Dr. Mughal said that the level of financial discipline required to save the country’s economy is not even a matter of concern for the political parties.
The current government ruined the economy by manipulating the exchange rate and derailing the IMF programme while the previous government wasted trillions of rupees.
Several hundreds of billions of public money were used to buy political loyalties before dissolving the provincial assemblies.
He noted that all the political parties of Pakistan have proven that they either do not have the capacity or will to improve the economy.
