RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Heavy external debt is stagnating economy and social uplift of Pakistan, and unless this debt trap is broken, the country cannot get its true sovereignty and freedom, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday.

He said more than half of our national budget is being devoured by loans and their interest. The government takes new loans to retire old ones. This situation is ideal only for the lenders and bankers, who continue to suck the blood of Pakistani people. He said our lenders shape our policies and without their prior permission the Pakistani government cannot even give relief to its citizens.

However, PDP General Secretary Engineer Iqbal Hashmi said Pakistan has become a slave of the IMF and makes policies according to their directives. He said it is not easy to come out of this trap without sincere leadership and sound strategies.

Hashmi said after paying Rs 8.2 trillion which is 48 percent of the budget, nothing is left for economic development. He said IMF loan has slowed down the economic growth which is on average a meagre 3.5 percent in the last ten years. This year real GDP growth rate is predicted at 2.8 percent which is lower than the countries in the region. He said Pakistan’s GDP is stagnant at 375 billion dollars. A retail stores chain in the US earns more than double of this in terms of revenue. He said half of the Pakistani population lives below subsistence level and more are drowning into poverty each year.

He said rescheduling of principal amount each year is an indicator that Pakistan can not afford more loans but each year new loan provisions are inbuilt in the budget. He regretted that Pakistan has pledged all assets to get loans and now they get loans on the guarantees provided by friendly counties.

However, Altaf Shakoor added that the situation is not sustainable and someone should think out-of-the-box to break the shackles of loans. He said our economy is of the bankers and for the bankers, as only banks are thriving on the growing debt at the cost of poor Pakistanis.

He demanded to get passed a law from the parliament to ban new loans for next ten years, so as to provide some breathing space to our choking economy.