NA panel urges govt to avoid economic collapse

ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of the National Standing Committee on Finance, Qaiser Sheikh, of the ruling PMLN and two other parliamentarians, Ali Musa Gilani of PPP and Ramesh Kumar of dissident PTI group, have asked the government to avert total economic collapse.

“We have asked the government to open up letter of credit on deferred payments for one year. If the situation persists, shortages will hit the country very soon. The situation is heading towards an alarming point,” Qaiser Sheikh and the other two MNAs stated in a press conference here on Thursday.

All of them were united in saying that they had never witnessed such a situation in their entire political and business lives when thousands of containers were stuck at ports and businessmen were forced to pay heavy “detention charges” of up to 20 per cent in dollars as well as demurrages for delaying their release.

The businessmen, according to them, have lost their equity, and there was no solution in sight to overcome their woes. They demanded all the political parties that they sign the Charter of Economic Rights and take tough and bold steps to break the deadlock in reviving the IMF programme.

“If the corrective measures are not taken on an immediate basis, the country might plunge into complete chaos and unrest,” the chairman said. Accompanied by Ali Musa Gilani and Ramesh Kumar, Qaiser Sheikh said that the NA panel held its last meeting in Karachi and met businessmen to inquire about their economic woes. He said that exporters had stopped resending their dollar receipts, and remittances had also decreased as a result of the prevalent three different exchange rates.

He said that the price of steel went up by 30 to 35 per cent daily. Citing examples from the plastic and PVC industries, he said that its price escalated from Rs350 per kg to Rs550 per kg because the import containers were not being cleared due to the dollar crunch.

Qaiser Sheikh said that Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar was making an all-out effort to overcome the crisis, but it was not an issue of any one individual, so there was a need to shun politics and take all bold steps in line with the IMF’s prescription to revive the stalled programme.

According to Ali Musa Gilani, the last PTI government struck a deal with the IMF, but now they were playing with the gallery. He suggested the government fulfil IMF conditions and revive the programme to avert a crisis. He said that there should be a long-term economic policy with a span of 10 to 15 years to turn around the economy.

Ramesh Kumar said that all was not well, as he had never witnessed such a precarious economic situation in his political life. He claimed that the government and SBP governor were claiming that there were priorities for allowing imports but, in reality, the imports of luxury vehicles like BMWs were rampant.