World powers blackmailing Pakistan on IMF bailout Highlights

[maithil]

Say NO to blackmail.

 

[VCheng]

Say NO to blackmail.

Going to IMF is a decision up to PMIK. As you said, he can say yea or nay depending on what is best for Pakistan in his view.

 

[rockstarIN]

Going to IMF is a decision up to PMIK. As you said, he can say yea or nay depending on what is best for Pakistan in his view.

whats the other options?

 

[VCheng]

whats the other options?

Well, that is for the leadership to evaluate, looking at all possible angles, and decide accordingly.

 

[Pakistansdefender]

Nobody is forcing Pakistan to go to the IMF. It is a decision to be made by PMIK and his government. Let us see what they decide is best for the country.

Really.
Nobody is forcing.
Don't you read media, they are forcing day and night why the government has not approached imf.

 

[maverick1977]

World powers blackmailing Pakistan on IMF bailout


Highlights

• Today Pakistan is standing on the ‘wrong side’ of these global force blackmailing Pakistan, says EAC member
• Indian economy allowed maintaining military build-up for a longer period, but Pakistan’s economy, which was in tatters, could not allow it: Dr Khan
• 'The well-coordinated growth numbers of Pakistan's economy by IFIs seem a planned design to create unrest among the business community'

ISLAMABAD: Foreign powers want Pakistan to either slow down work on the CPEC or come out of it, eminent economist and Dean of Special Sciences and Humanities in the NUST Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan told The News.

Dr Ashfaque said Pakistan simply could not get out of this project of paramount importance, as it was good for its economy and people.

"From the very beginning, I have been suggesting the PTI government to avoid going to the IMF this time, as the geo-strategic environment has altogether changed. In the past, Pakistan always stood on the right side of these powers,” said Khan who is also the Economic Advisory Council member.

He argued that these powers had the clout of all major economies to dictate the IMF in Pakistan’s case.

“Today Pakistan is standing on the ‘wrong side’ of these forces. The Indo-Pacific alliance also stands together to counter the growing influence of China in the world. Three US congressmen have recently requested that the IMF should not be allowed to lend money to Pakistan fearing that it will use this money to pay back the Chinese debt.

Dr Ashfaque said that India also built up armed forces on its borders due to which Pakistan also took same measures.

He said the Indian economy allowed maintaining military build-up for a longer period, but Pakistan’s economy, which was in tatters, could not allow it.

Dr Ashfaque said the government will slice down the development budget and maintain or increase the defence budget, but political parties and the social media will begin criticising allocation of major chunk of budget for defence.

This, he said, will create a gulf between the masses and the armed forces and that’s what the IFIs (international financial institutions) under the influence of big economies this time want under a well-planned design.

Coming to Pakistan’s economy, Dr Khan said GDP growth numbers worked out by the IFIs such as 3.9 percent by the ADB, 3.4 percent by the World Bank and 2.7 percent by the IMF served nothing but to push Pakistan to the Fund on strict terms.

The well-coordinated growth numbers of our economy seem a planned design to create unrest among the business community across the country.

He said the IMF worked out 2.7 percent GDP growth for the current fiscal and 2.5 percent for the next. Dr Khan said Pakistan was most likely to come up with close to 4 percent. ’However, the Fund is also stressing the government to make the revenue target of Rs5400 billion for the next budgetary year.

He argued that the IMF had factually made fun of it. On the one side, the Fund is predicting the lowest GDP growth, on the other side it is asking for 40 percent growth in revenue.

“When there is growth of 2.5 percent then pressurising to make revenue target on the highest sides is beyond wisdom of all economists,” he said.

Dr Khan said if Pakistan succumbed to the IMF pressure on the revenue target of Rs 5400 billion, then the PTI government will be left with no option but to announce a mini-budget every quarter for more taxation to achieve the revenue target making Pakistanis’ lives more miserable.

Dr Khan feared that after the IFIs projected growth figures, rating agencies such as Standards & Poors and Moody’s will downgrade Pakistan’s ratings, making it unable to generate financings from the international market.

He claimed that the IMF had no capacity to even work out the growth of economy for next two months.

Mr Khan said the IMF will make Pakistan’s budget with growth in revenue target of Rs 5400, cut on development budget and massive surge on taxation and more appreciation of dollar.

He said discount rate will also be increased which will increase the borrowing cost for the private sector. Since the private sector will not borrow loans, Pakistan’s economic activity will come to a standstill.

With increase in dollar appreciation, the cost of Pakistan’s 60 percent raw material import which is used for industrial production has increased manifold.

He said the government had depreciated the Pak Rupee value by over 36 percent with an aim to increase exports but unfortunately these had decreased by 11 percent. This, he said, can happen in a country where the imported materials stand at 25 percent.

please share the link which news outlook he wrote for

 

[VCheng]

Really.
Nobody is forcing.
Don't you read media, they are forcing day and night why the government has not approached imf.

Luckily, the decision is not going to be made by the media, but by PMIK. I am sure he will decide what is best for the country. It is his decision, and his choice.

 

[ps3linux]

Hmmmm. Reasons in going to IMF are multilayered first our current account deficit meaning our imports vs our exports we are in the red zone well to be exact always been except for three or four years since independence that we were in surplus otherwise we have always been in deficit. Simple terms what we export vs what we import, in order to bridge the gap we have to borrow in dollars be it our euro-bond or borrowing from ADB, IMF.

We can print ruppee and create inflation in the process but we cannot print dollars that is why we have to borrow. Borrowing is not free it always carries interest or markup, we have been doing it for decades now our policy maker's failures and corruption of both politicians and bureaucrats have caught up with us. We have no option except borrowing from IMF, we have 1 Billion dollar worth of euro bond maturing soon which we will have to pay back, then in the next fiscal year another payment of 9 billion dollar I think IMF is coming up. We have to borrow to pay a maturing loan, all that loan from "brotherly countries" is not free either it is just a deposit which is of no practical use except appearing in our NOSTRO/VOSTRO account or comes with markup of its own.

Our tea imports, automobiles, mobiles could be addressed slightly faster. Case of textile import is very interesting we produce the cotton, we weave it to make the thread, then we export it at peanut prices where it is processed (value addition) we import it again at exorbitant prices because our industrialist never bothered to invest in value addition.

Beggars are not choosers, international financial institutions ensure that their money will be repaid, that is why they enforce tough conditions, and these condition are not for the benefit of borrowing country or its population. We should have learned to live within our resources. Frankly there are few options for us economically decrease/discourage/ban imports ASAP, increase foreign remittance, improve exports. But the kind of options current Govt/bureaucracy has given to exporters I don't think the last one is going to improve soon unless the regulations for keeping export proceeds 6 months abroad is changed immediately.

 

[CrazyZ]

Imf was set up to resolve forex issues. It's part of the system setup after ww2 by the usa and critical to the dollar reserve currency system. They will provide the forex bailout.

Harsher terms are needed to force the change needed in Pakistan to view forex as an important resource. Past Ppp pml and Musharraf admins are to blame for this.

 

[Kaniska]

India might have blocked it..India has more voting power in ADB than IMF. Moreover, US and Japan have high influence in ADB when it comes to lending.

Hmm...I am not really sure....If nothing works out, why can not Pakistan get one time soft loan of 20-30 b from Chines/Arab investor and provide them with lucrative tax benefit?

IMF is always makes tough deal with struggling nation...And in democratically elected countries, it will be a tough call for the ruler to justify in front of their own people..

 

[JohnyD]

Hmm...I am not really sure....If nothing works out, why can not Pakistan get one time soft loan of 20-30 b from Chines/Arab investor and provide them with lucrative tax benefit?

IMF is always makes tough deal with struggling nation...And in democratically elected countries, it will be a tough call for the ruler to justify in front of their own people..

dear, Pakistan desperately need fund to repay its debt and maintain sufficient Forex...China is one of the biggest lenders to PK and its time for PK to repay it..so they cant go to China and ask for more loan to repay debt owed to China...may be the same case with Arabs!

 

[nahtanbob]

World powers blackmailing Pakistan on IMF bailout


Highlights

• Today Pakistan is standing on the ‘wrong side’ of these global force blackmailing Pakistan, says EAC member
• Indian economy allowed maintaining military build-up for a longer period, but Pakistan’s economy, which was in tatters, could not allow it: Dr Khan
• 'The well-coordinated growth numbers of Pakistan's economy by IFIs seem a planned design to create unrest among the business community'

ISLAMABAD: Foreign powers want Pakistan to either slow down work on the CPEC or come out of it, eminent economist and Dean of Special Sciences and Humanities in the NUST Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan told The News.

Dr Ashfaque said Pakistan simply could not get out of this project of paramount importance, as it was good for its economy and people.

"From the very beginning, I have been suggesting the PTI government to avoid going to the IMF this time, as the geo-strategic environment has altogether changed. In the past, Pakistan always stood on the right side of these powers,” said Khan who is also the Economic Advisory Council member.

He argued that these powers had the clout of all major economies to dictate the IMF in Pakistan’s case.

“Today Pakistan is standing on the ‘wrong side’ of these forces. The Indo-Pacific alliance also stands together to counter the growing influence of China in the world. Three US congressmen have recently requested that the IMF should not be allowed to lend money to Pakistan fearing that it will use this money to pay back the Chinese debt.

Dr Ashfaque said that India also built up armed forces on its borders due to which Pakistan also took same measures.

He said the Indian economy allowed maintaining military build-up for a longer period, but Pakistan’s economy, which was in tatters, could not allow it.

Dr Ashfaque said the government will slice down the development budget and maintain or increase the defence budget, but political parties and the social media will begin criticising allocation of major chunk of budget for defence.

This, he said, will create a gulf between the masses and the armed forces and that’s what the IFIs (international financial institutions) under the influence of big economies this time want under a well-planned design.

Coming to Pakistan’s economy, Dr Khan said GDP growth numbers worked out by the IFIs such as 3.9 percent by the ADB, 3.4 percent by the World Bank and 2.7 percent by the IMF served nothing but to push Pakistan to the Fund on strict terms.

The well-coordinated growth numbers of our economy seem a planned design to create unrest among the business community across the country.

He said the IMF worked out 2.7 percent GDP growth for the current fiscal and 2.5 percent for the next. Dr Khan said Pakistan was most likely to come up with close to 4 percent. ’However, the Fund is also stressing the government to make the revenue target of Rs5400 billion for the next budgetary year.

He argued that the IMF had factually made fun of it. On the one side, the Fund is predicting the lowest GDP growth, on the other side it is asking for 40 percent growth in revenue.

“When there is growth of 2.5 percent then pressurising to make revenue target on the highest sides is beyond wisdom of all economists,” he said.

Dr Khan said if Pakistan succumbed to the IMF pressure on the revenue target of Rs 5400 billion, then the PTI government will be left with no option but to announce a mini-budget every quarter for more taxation to achieve the revenue target making Pakistanis’ lives more miserable.

Dr Khan feared that after the IFIs projected growth figures, rating agencies such as Standards & Poors and Moody’s will downgrade Pakistan’s ratings, making it unable to generate financings from the international market.

He claimed that the IMF had no capacity to even work out the growth of economy for next two months.

Mr Khan said the IMF will make Pakistan’s budget with growth in revenue target of Rs 5400, cut on development budget and massive surge on taxation and more appreciation of dollar.

He said discount rate will also be increased which will increase the borrowing cost for the private sector. Since the private sector will not borrow loans, Pakistan’s economic activity will come to a standstill.

With increase in dollar appreciation, the cost of Pakistan’s 60 percent raw material import which is used for industrial production has increased manifold.

He said the government had depreciated the Pak Rupee value by over 36 percent with an aim to increase exports but unfortunately these had decreased by 11 percent. This, he said, can happen in a country where the imported materials stand at 25 percent.


https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/45...ut-eac-member-dr-ashfaque-says-foreign-powers

The basic question is why should the West prop up Pakistan economy if the keys are handed over to China as per CPEC

$ 6-8 billions, approval came through after Pakistan agreed not to use it to repay Chinese debt.

I cannot understand that one

 

[JohnyD]

I cannot understand that one

May i know what do you mean by that pls?

 

[Pakhtoon yum]

Start paying taxes, and question where they go. Everyone in Pakistan is a shame to the nation. Shame on all of you.

 

[nahtanbob]

May i know what do you mean by that pls?

It is like saying I am giving 100 dollars and you cannot use it to buy drugs. But you know if you earn 40 dollars on your own you can use it on drugs

Start paying taxes, and question where they go. Everyone in Pakistan is a shame to the nation. Shame on all of you.

most of the populace is too poor to pay taxes
they are already taxed to the limit on petroleum