Islamabad, September 23, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Friday said it has become impossible to provide relief to the flood victims due to debt repayments, strict IMF conditions, rising inflation and a declining economy.

Electricity and oil are getting expensive, and many imports are being stopped but the rupee is depreciating due to a lack of confidence in the market, it said.

Despite grim economic conditions, the political fever is not giving the government time to plan for the rehabilitation of the flood victims and take the right economic decisions, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President of PEW.

He said that foreign loans have exceeded one hundred and thirty billion dollars, while local loans are even more; the IMF loan stabilized the rupee for a few days in the month of August but now it is falling rapidly again.

Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that the politicians who are claiming to improve the economy by putting the country’s interest above all else for power, have forgotten that they have taken record loans in the history of the country without showing any progress.

He said that dependence on loans and grants has not allowed the economy to flourish on a sustainable basis and wastage of resources for non-productive activities is still rampant.

Wrong decisions and mismanagement will soon result in the 24th IMF bailout package as rulers have developed a habit of surviving on loans and grants, he said. The rulers need to understand that the time to take advantage of the superpowers’ constraints is over and the economic model will have to be completely changed or the country will remain in need of loans.

For more loans wishes of lenders will have to be obeyed as the so-called structural reforms ordered by international financial institutions to make the country eligible for a bailout have only brought more suffering to the people.

The UN estimated that around 287,000 houses were fully destroyed and 662,000 houses partially destroyed, 735,000 farm animals perished and two million acres of crops were adversely affected. The worst affected provinces were Balochistan and Sindh.

Pakhtunkhwa province was also badly affected. Thirty-two of the 34 districts of Balochistan, the poorest province, were on the “calamity list” until early September.

More than 134,000 cases of diarrhoea and 44,000 cases of malaria have been reported in Sindh province. Pakistan’s National Flood Response Coordination Centre used the limited resources at its disposal to run thousands of rescue and relief missions.

For more information, contact:
President,
Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW)
402, 4th Floor, Gulistan Khan House, Fazal-e-Haq Road,
82-East, Blue Area, Islamabad
Tel: +92-51-2510375
Fax: +92-51-2802449
Cell: +92-321-5157671
Email: president@pakistaneconomywatch.com
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