Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has acknowledged that the country has already gone bankrupt.
"Pakistan has already defaulted and we are living in a bankrupt country. Everyone including the establishment, bureaucracy, and politicians are responsible for it. The solution to our problems lies within the country. The IMF does not have the solution to Pakistan's problems," PML-N leader Khwaja Asif said while addressing a convocation event in Sialkot.
The solution to the country's problems lies within the country, and not with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he added, suggesting that one-fourth of Pakistan's debt could be paid off if only two golf clubs built on expensive government land are sold.
Asif blamed the establishment, bureaucracy, and politicians for the current economic situation and said that in his 33 years in Parliament, he has witnessed the country's politics being disgraced for 32 of those years.
Asif also said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will announce major austerity measures in all government institutions to control the fiscal deficit by minimising government expenditures.
Worsening problems
Inflation in the crisis-hit Pakistan has hit another high. The yearly inflation hit a new high of nearly 40 per cent this week. The inflation surged to 38.42 per cent this week in cash-strapped Pakistan as hike in the prices of essential commodities continued to rise.
Pakistan is trying hard to contain inflation in the last few weeks, but with little success. The recent hike in inflation comes even as the Pakistan government imposed new taxes and increased petroleum prices to fulfil the demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before releasing USD 1.1 billion dollars under an already agreed $ 7 billion deal.
Pakistan authorities during the outgoing week shocked the people by imposing new taxes to raise Rs 170 billion through a mini-budget bill. The unprecedented inflation has hit every household.
Delayed deal
Pakistan is in panic after the IMF team that came to negotiate the details left without reaching a final agreement last week. Even though Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif agreed to all the preconditions. And now Pakistan increased the the petrol price which is increasing the burden on a breadwinner.
IMF's statement on the talks underscored the gaps despite the progress made on the measures to remedy domestic and external imbalances. "The IMF's carefully crafted, short concluding statement on the 10-day loan talks further underscores these gaps, despite the "considerable progress" on measures to remedy domestic and external imbalances," Islam Khabar quoted Dawn's editorial.
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