ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Monday asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to explain to the people why his government was compelled to repay $3 billion loan to Saudi Arabia and what it was going to cost the nation for taking a commercial loan from China to clear the Saudi soft loan.
“Imran Khan had promised to break Pakistan free from the debt trap, but since coming to power he has buried Pakistan under loans, taking the begging bowl everywhere he goes,” he said in a statement. He said Imran Khan had extensive experience in soliciting alms and donations, but countries do not, cannot, and should not run on donations. “Every person in Pakistan is paying a terrible price for the tsunami of Imran Khan’s transformation,” he added. Bilawal said the life of the common man in Pakistan had become unbearable due to the poor economic policies of Imran Khan regime.
“With the per capita debt now at Rs175,000, every Pakistani is paying the price for Imran’s Khans incompetence,” he said. He said the common people would continue to suffer unprecedented inflation, poverty, and unemployment if the federal governments pushed Pakistan further into debt and compounded it with their corruption and mismanagement. Bilawal said that owing to the circular debt crisis, the government had been unable to keep its financial commitments to the international partners, putting projects such as CPEC at risk.
“The hesitation of the Chinese government in releasing the committed USD 6 billion funds for the ML-1 railway track is in fact an expression of distrust in the PTI regime,” he said, adding that the Chinese companies investing in Pakistan had also apprised their government of their distrust in the PTI government.
He further said the prime minister had created a climate where foreign investors and governments had become reluctant to invest in Pakistan and engage with the federal government.