(August 01, 2022)
Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said three economic crises have occurred in the last three years due to economic mismanagement.
The public is tired due to the economic disasters, businessmen are experiencing sleepless nights and many industrialists are planning to relocate their businesses to other countries, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that many investors are investing billions in Dubai’s real estate market due to uncertainty at home which is eroding the value of the rupee.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the first crisis came in 2018-2019 when Prime Minister Imran Khan delayed taking loans from the IMF for several months, which caused irreparable damage to the economy.
However, after that an agreement was reached and there was some stability in the foreign exchange reserves and the rupee, after which the coronavirus pandemic started, during which, like other countries, funds were used mercilessly, he added.
The business leader noted that after this crisis, Imran Khan’s government started such measures to please the voters, which were objected by the local experts and international institutions, but the ruling elite did not listen to anyone and emptied the treasury.
After the departure of his government, political tensions began that almost bankrupted the country. A staff-level agreement has been reached with the IMF, but due to the delay in receiving the money, it has not had any positive impact on the country’s situation.
Meanwhile, the three global rating agencies have downgraded Pakistan’s credit rating due to political instability and inflation touching the highest rate of 22 percent.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that a new oil crisis may hit Pakistan during the current months therefore the government should take measures to increase the oil storage capacity of the oil companies and the new refinery policy should also be approved soon to pave the way for new investment of 5 billion dollars in this sector.
The new investment will help furnace oil to be produced in the country which will be converted into diesel and petrol and cheap oil will be provided to the people.
The current government imported huge quantities of oil and gas to end load-shedding at a time when prices were skyrocketing due to the Ukraine war and now the masses are paying a heavy price for this decision.
