(Jan-01-2024)
Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain, said on Monday that international financial institutions fear what may happen after the election as the newly-elected administration might undo the reforms.
The new government will be under pressure to reverse reforms and make popular decisions, which will push away multinational financial organizations, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that international organizations also want timely elections in Pakistan and are also afraid of the post-election situation as the government formed as a result of the election can stop the process of reforms to increase its popularity.
Speaking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the concerns and reservations of the international organizations that are playing a major role in saving the country from bankruptcy must be addressed.
He said that there was no option other than accepting the dictates of international organizations to save the country from default. Problems will increase for the country’s economy if the reforms are reversed, and foreign investors will also stop planning to invest in Pakistan.
The business leader noted that some international organizations believe that the benefit-seeking elements have become active even before the elections, and they are making efforts for subsidies, tax exemptions, various types of packages, etc.
These influential classes will resist an increase in the tax base and pile up unnecessary imports into the country, widening the current account deficit and making the economy lean again for personal gains.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that the property sector has also become active in eliminating new taxes; those buying electricity and gas are also active, while the sectors that evade more than $4 trillion in taxes are also running their campaigns.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that at present the government is saving unnecessary expenses, due to which the value of the dollar is decreasing and the value of the rupee is improving, but international organizations are afraid that the elected government will start spending unnecessarily to please the people.
Some believe that the government will not be able to withstand the pressure of its supporters and financiers for a long time, which will worsen the economic situation. The main objective of every political party is to please its voters at any cost, and the possibility of the same happening in the future is very worrying.
He said that it is also a fact that if the new government is irresponsible, the international organizations will withdraw, in the absence of which the help of friendly countries will also be limited to statements.
