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KARACHI: Former Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin on Saturday said that economy is virtually at a standstill as industries are shutting down due to shortage of raw material.
Addressing a press conference along with Muzzammil Aslam, spokesperson of PTI on Finance & Economy, at Karachi Press Club on Saturday, he said the country is facing a serious crisis and the economy is almost at a standstill as even now the industries are being closed due to shortage of raw material.
However, he said, PTI has a complete plan to overcome the ongoing economic crisis. “Although we are not in government, we will share the details of this plan in the next few days,” he added.
He claimed that because the government has fallen short of its goal of a 4.6 percent fiscal deficit of GDP, the IMF evaluation is still pending. Despite a 15% increase in revenue, the government still lacks between Rs 600 and Rs 700 billion.
The government experiences approximately Rs 123 billion in energy sector deficiencies each month, and the IMF is requesting that this be controlled. Since there are currently multiple currency rates available on the market, the IMF is also working to establish a single exchange rate. The trade or grey market rate is Rs 265 to the US dollar, whereas the interbank rate is Rs 227. He encouraged the administration to take action to implement a single currency rate for the entire country.
He said that Pakistan’s collection in the Geneva donors’ conference remained above expectations, but majority pledges are loans that will be distributed in the next 3 years. It will be tough for the government to materialize money on time as the federal government will also need to match the funds to get this pledged amount, he added.
He said that delay in LCs payment is directly putting a negative impact on the inflation, and SPI has risen to 31.8 percent. “We believed if the country got the IMF program, then inflation will be 35 percent and if not arrived then it will rise to 50 percent,” he added. Tarin said that rising inflation is a matter of concern as it is directly affecting the common man. Wheat flour prices were Rs 65 per kg during the PTI tenure and now it has surged to Rs 160 per kg and the same trend is witnessed in other commodities, he mentioned.
Muzzammil Aslam; however, said that Dubai and Saudi Arabia have pledged $1 billion, which is welcomed but the question remains will they be enough to rescue them from the current situation. “We think it barely covers the payments and will not be enough to address the issue,” he added.
He said that wheat, urea and ghee management in PTI time is exceptional. Every week there would be a meeting of the Price Monitoring Committee to oversee the prices and challenges. He said the present government is not serious to resolve the inflation issue.
