- Warns people to pay price in form of further inflation due to PDM’s inaptness
- Says incompetent govt have no economic roadmap except collecting money
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Spokesperson said that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his Cabinet were rejoicing over the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement as if the financial body was going to give US$ 3 billion fund to Shahbaz Sharif in the form of charity.
In his reaction to the IMF program on Monday, the PTI Spokesperson said that the IMF program was undoubtedly a positive development; however, the inapt federal government did not have any economic reform roadmap as its only priority was to collect money from the fund and other Countries but did not know what needed to be done afterward.
It was said that it seemed that the plan B of the government was simply to improve the economy through foreign investment.
The PTI spokesman said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) saw solution to all economic problems of the Country only in striking IMF deal, adding that the same people used to call the agreement with the IMF anti-national during the PTI government.
It was said that the nation had been bearing the burden of PDM’s incompetence for the last one year to secure the IMF deal.
The IMF Executive Board would approve the staff level agreement in its meeting on July 12.
However, the PTI spokesperson stated that the international organization Moody’s has expressed uncertainty about obtaining the funding of US$ 3 billion from the IMF.
The PTI spokesman said that according to Moody’s, Pakistan needed a long-term external funding plan to meet the needs of the next few years, adding that PDM did not handle matters in 14 months and now the people would pay the price in the form of further inflation.
It was stated that under the terms of the program, Pakistan had already increased electricity and gas rates and it would increase further in the coming days.
The PTI spokesperson went on to say despite cheap oil coming from Russia, the government hiked the price of diesel by Rs 7.5 per litre instead, adding that Ishaq Dar himself said that the prices of petroleum products would be increased further due to the petroleum levy.
It was said that with the expected surge in power prices by Rs. 4 to 5, the shortfall was also increasing continuously.
The PTI spokesperson said that taking advantage of the IMF’s US$ 3 billion package depended on political stability and the ability of the economic team besides long-term reforms were needed to increase the foreign exchange reserves along with the Country’s stability.