PM greets nation on signing accord with IPPs: ‘Difficult days over, future is brighter’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday congratulated the nation on the singing of an agreement with the independent power producers (IPPs) and said Pakistan had turned the corner and now ample job opportunities would be available to the people.

In a video message to the nation, Imran said he wanted to share good news with the nation that as a result of an agreement with the independent power producers (IPPs), power tariff will come down for the industry and masses will also benefit from it.

Imran said he wanted to congratulate the nation on 74th Independence Day and that Pakistan was the name of a great dream of our founding fathers – Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal. “The dream was that we had to make Pakistan an Islamic welfare state, where the rule of law was to be established with equal rights of very citizen, irrespective of his colour or religion, and these rights were to be guaranteed by the state,” he said.

Imran said it was a great dream and ‘we are headed on that path and God willing, I have no doubt we will reach our destination but not without collective struggle.’ He also greeted the nation on the way Pakistan dealtwith the coronavirus challenge. “Perhaps no other nation combated this challenge, as our entire nation did by striking a balance, as initially, there was a fear that on one hand people will die because of the virus, on the other, due to the lockdown, the economy will suffer massively and people will die of hunger as well. But by the blessings of Allah, the decisions taken proved right and now the cases are coming down and the economy is also going up,” he noted.

The prime minister said he had been saying always that human beings could just try but Allah would bless them with success. He said it did not mean that we had won the battle, as there were many challenges yet before us.

He cautioned for observing precautions and the best was to wear a mask while going to public. He congratulated the nation for the third time and said our two years have been very difficult but after that our economy has started to recover.

The way we got the government was very difficult. We did not have foreign exchange; we had loan installments. If we had not been able to pay, in the beginning, we were going bankrupt.

The prime minister noted that if the country goes bankrupt on debts or liabilities, it would have a very bad effect on the country. The dollar would pour in less, the rupee would fall and the value of the dollar would go up, which would make imported goods more expensive. Prices go up and inflation rises, but we were saved from very bad inflation because we were saved from bankruptcy.

However, he said this does not mean that the conditions of the people were easy. I know that the conditions of the people were and are, but the good news is that the conditions are improving.

He said, "If you want to see how much the business community has confidence in the national economy, look at the stock market. Our market has successfully gone up to a record high. People's confidence has started to grow. Concessions have never been given to this sector in the history of Pakistan”.

He pointed out that with the construction sector, 40 industries were starting to rise, which was starting to provide employment to the people and increase wealth. At the same time, he said when the country's wealth starts to grow, there are two things: one is that taxes start to rise and we can use this tax to lift the lower sector, while the other is that we repay the debt.

He said the PTI formed the government. There were two major burdens, one was that the previous governments had taken loans, and the government collected Rs4,000 billion tax revenue in the first year, out of which Rs2,000 billion was paid in installments, which left the country with half the money to manage affairs, which led to taking more loans.

“The second burden is on the energy sector because they were making electricity more expensive because in the agreements that were made electricity was becoming more expensive and we could not sell it to the people at that price and local exports could not compete with subcontinent markets because electricity was cheap there.

He noted that negotiations with the IPPs were under way for the last many days and agreement had been signed with them and now electricity would be available at lower tariff and this would also help decrease the circular debt. He said the government was reforming the loss-making power sector.

He said because of this, our economy was not recovering, but thank God our income has started to increase today and despite the coronavirus, tax collection in July exceeded the target and further improvements are ahead.

He said that due to corona, world exports have declined but Pakistan's exports have started increasing. Besides, cement sales are going up and the situation will continue to improve.

Congratulating the nation for the fourth time, he said after long negotiations between the government and the independent power producers, we have reached an agreement yesterday, which will start reducing the cost of power generation. This will benefit and the people will also benefit from it in the days to come.

“In the coming days, we will improve power transmission system and bring in a reform package to reduce theft and line losses, which will result in lower electricity prices. We have the burden of debt and other expensive electricity, but with these agreements, I see an industrial Pakistan, where people can find employment,” he said.

At the end, prime minister said that he wanted to send a message to the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir from all over Pakistan that we stand with you and will continue to fight and pray for you politically, diplomatically and in every possible way.

“May Allah grant you freedom and the rights that were enshrined in the UN Security Council resolutions 70 years ago,” he said.