Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. AP.
Islamabad: IMF deal is like “treatment of cancer with disprin (aspirin),” said former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, warning that the agreement by the global lender would only provide temporary respite which would eventually lead the country to a “major disaster” as the burden of loans would continue to increase.
In a televised address from his residence in Zaman Park, Imran Khan criticised the economic policy of Shehbaz Sharif-led government in Pakistan and said the burden of loans on the country would continue to increase further in the coming days.
Pakistan plunging into financial crisis like Sri Lanka
Intensifying his attack on policies of “imported government” and his “handlers”, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief said: “Do not destroy the country just to oust Imran Khan from the political arena.”
He also said Pakistan is plunging into a financial crisis and more chaos akin to Sri Lanka.
Mini-budget to bring another wave of inflation
Imran Khan said Pakistan’s mini-budget would bring another wave of inflation and purchasing power of people of the country would reduce drastically.
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Pakistan to throw out ‘looters’
Exuding confidence of his win in the elections, Imran Khan claimed: “People have decided that they will throw out the corrupt cabal of looters in the next elections and that’s why they are afraid of holding the elections.”
Imran Khan’s solution to steer Pakistan’s economy
Khan said the only way to steer the country out of the crisis was to hold “free and fair” general elections and let the public-mandated government take “tough decisions”.
“Only a government, backed by the people of Pakistan, can introduce structural reforms to remove the cancer and put the country on the path to recovery,” Khan said.
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He further lambasted at the ruling Pakistan government and said the rulers have no solution for the welfare of public and they are only focusing on getting their corruption cases closed.
Khan also accused Shehbaz Sharif government for lodging against him and claimed that the ministers of the present government “only want to arrest and torture PTI leaders and workers to break the party and eventually win elections”.
“The people of Pakistan will not let this happen,” he asserted.
Pakistan economic crisis
Oil prices in Pakistan have touched record high. On Wednesday, cost of petrol was hiked up to PKR 272 per litre. The price of high-speed diesel has been increased to PKR 280 per litre after a hike of PKR 17.20.
Kerosene oil in Pakistan will now be sold at PKR 202.73 per litre after PKR 12.90 hike, while light diesel oil will cost PKR 196.68 per litre after an increase of PKR 9.68.
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All these have been done to appease the IMF for unlocking the critical loan tranche, reported Geo News.
As per the mini budget tabled in Pakistan this week, general sales tax (GST) on items has been increased to 18 per cent from 17 per cent.
The inflation is at 33 per cent, up from 19.7 per cent in March 2022 which is pushing up prices of essential commodities including wheat flour, vegetables.
This week, Fitch downgraded Pakistan‘s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating (IDR) to ‘CCC-‘ from ‘CCC ‘, citing further worsening in liquidity and policy risks.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves have also declined to below USD 3 billion.
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