ISLAMABAD: Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Economy and Energy Bilal Azhar Kayani on Sunday said that the government successfully averted the default position and expressed optimism for increase in foreign exchange reserves with reaching a staff level deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and support from friendly countries.
Speaking at a news conference, he said the country’s macroeconomic indicators are improving and after the staff level agreement with the IMF, the country’s foreign exchange reserves will increase.
“We have successfully averted the default position and now expect an increase in foreign exchange reserves after the IMF deal and support from friendly countries,” he asserted, adding that the coalition government is committed to improve the country’s economy under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Counting on different measures by the incumbent government to improve the economy over the past eight months, he said the current account deficit has decreased by 68 percent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. He said that keeping in view the foreign exchange reserves, the current government is trying maximum not to put any extra burden on poor people.
He also held Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former premier Imran Khan responsible for the present economic turmoil in the country, adding that instead of staying focused on the economy, the former premier remained busy in “political persecution” and “he didn’t care about public problems.”
He said that during Imran Khan’s tenure, six million people became jobless and 20 million people were forced to live under the poverty line. He said that the PTI government increased the overall debt of the country by 78 percent in less than four years.
Contrary to that, he added that the PML-N government in its previous tenure completed unprecedented development projects and overcame the historic energy crisis.
He said that work on energy production projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project was also initiated to produce about 12,000 MW energy.
Besides, a programme with the IMF was completed and an operation against terrorism was launched to eradicate the menace of terrorism from the country.
He further maintained that during Imran Khan’s four years tenure, inflation continuously increased, four finance ministers were changed in four consecutive years.
He added that over 20 million people were pushed below the poverty line and the debt grew by 70 percent from Rs 2, 500 billion to Rs 4,400 billion in four years, which was the highest in the history of Pakistan.
He said for the first time in the history of Pakistan after 1952, the national GDP witnessed negative growth, adding that electricity circular debt soared from Rs 11,00 billion to Rs 2,500 billion and the current account deficit was recorded at Rs 1,700 billion.
He said all the hardships, which are being faced by the people in the country, are the result of the IMF program that was initiated by Shaukat Tareen under the directives of Imran Khan. “They not only negotiated a program with the IMF but later broke the agreement at a time when the foreign exchange reserves of the country were at the lowest level,” he added.
Kayani said that the previous government’s steps eroded trust in the IMF, adding that Imran Khan’s government not only broke its promises to stall the IMF program but also pushed the country towards default. He added that the PTI actively tried to sabotage the current government’s efforts to revive the IMF program.
However, he added that the current government is re-negotiating with the IMF and other multilateral partners besides restoring relations with them and reaching close to staff level agreement.
He said the government is taking all necessary measures for the 9th Review to pull the country out of the current economic crisis, adding that the technical level agreement with the IMF had been reached and the staff level agreement had been held up because of a lack of assured financing of $3 billion.
To bridge the external financing gap, he added that one of the friendly countries assured to provide support of $2 billion and another country would also provide $1 billion.
To a question, he said that after the IMF program, the inflows from friendly countries would receive, and exports would strengthen, which would improve external accounts and enhance the GDP growth.
Responding to PTI chairman’s criticism on the economic policies of the incumbent government, he said that the current economic difficulties, including inflation have been directly caused by the “disastrous” decisions of the PTI government, which “destroyed” Pakistan’s economy in four years and “deliberately” pushed the country towards default before leaving the government.
He further maintained that there is a primary surplus of 0.9 percent of GDP this year as compared to a primary deficit of 0.6 percent during last year.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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