ISLAMABAD: The senior bureaucracy and economic managers are on their way to scare Imran Khan, new Prime Minister (PM) of new Pakistan in the name of economic sympathy saying that the forex reserves have reached the lowest ebb for the second time in the history of country and repayment of foreign debts stand next to impossible.
They have started convincing the government if attempts are not made for immediate acquisition of loans then not only the rupee will witness the ever worst devaluation but the country’s exports will also be affected adversely. Either negotiation should be initiated with IMF or some alternative arrangement be made.
Certain sources told daily Morning Mail attempts are underway to embarrass Imran Khan on economic front and the motive behind these vicious efforts are to persuade PM Imran Khan to strike deal with former PM Nawaz Sharif for acquisition of dollars.
According to impartial economic experts though the economic situation in the country is fragile but it is not so for the first time and Pakistan has passed through more critical situation than the prevailing one on umpteen times before and has always come out of it successfully.
Following the imposition of economic sanctions in the wake of nuclear tests in October 1999, the foreign exchange reserves had hit its lowest level at 1.9 billion dollars.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) held foreign exchange reserves only 6.64 billion dollars in April 2013 when Nawaz Sharif became PM for the third time in 2013. It hit 1o years lowest level.
In 2008 PPP held the reins of government and run the economic system in such destructive manner that the national economy came to stand still. The country the then was facing such a situation that money was not available to pay installments to IMF. In 2002-2003 dollar reserves rose to 9.5 billion. SBP purchased dollars from open market at that time to improve economic situation.
During 2016 on one occasion the foreign exchange reserves hit the highest level of 24.02 billion dollars in the history of the country.
The prevailing situation reflects that according to SBP, the foreign exchange reserves were held 16.40 billion dollars in June 2018 which surged to 16.89 billion dollars with nominal increase in the month of July.
There is no worrisome situation for Imran Khan because over 5.8 trillion rupees budget has been allocated for the fiscal 2018-19. A sum of Rs 1.3 trillion has been earmarked for defence, Rs 1.6 trillion for repayment of loans and 2 trillion rupees for development projects in this budget. Allocations have also been made for Provinces share, health, education and other essential institutions. Therefore, funds are available to run all the matters including repayment of loans.
The bold and extempore speech delivered by PM Imran Khan has boosted the morale and trust of overseas Pakistanis.
The appeal made for making donations for construction of dams is likely to be responded in highly positive and courageous manner.
PTI government needs not to make any decision in haste and in the event of revision of budget the load of juggleries of clever economic wizards should not be allowed to be shifted to the common man.
