Country needs no IMF loan but good leadership: Mian Zahid

KARACHI: Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan and President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said it is not the IMF loan that brings countries out of the crisis, but a good leadership.

If leadership is based on principles and the expenditure is not more than the income then there is no question of a financial crisis in the country, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the number of countries that need IMF support can be counted on the fingers, while around one hundred and seventy countries have never tried to seek IMF’s help.

He said that irresponsible countries empty the treasury through extravagant spending, losses of government institutions, electricity, gas theft, and elitism and then they themselves ask for loans from institutions like the IMF.

Politicians invite such lending institutions to interfere in the country’s affairs for loans, after which they try to prove themselves innocent in the eyes of the people by complaining about the strict conditions, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that wrong economic philosophies first bankrupted Sri Lanka and now it is the turn of other countries where politics is given priority over the economy due to which their economies have been destroyed and poverty is increasing.

A country having irresponsible leaders face the risk of default and it is left with no option but to bow to every demand of the lenders and the people have to bear the entire burden, who have nothing to do with the wastage of funds and other related matters, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain further said that the weak countries are given a clear message in the negotiations that either accept all conditions of the lenders or declare bankruptcy as there is no third option.

According to the available data, from July 2018 to June 2022, the devaluing of the currency has increased the debt burden by Rs9712 billion while 2835 billion rupees has been added to debt servicing on account of interest payments, he said.

Due to these two policies alone, the country’s debt and interest payments have increased by 12548 billion rupees. During these four years, according to the average value of the dollar the country’s debt has increased by 79 billion dollars without taking a single rupee as a loan, he regretted.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023