Mere speeches can’t get rid of begging bowl: Asad

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Asad Umar on Tuesday said the government was seeking financial assistance from the friendly countries in order to get the IMF programme at better terms, adding that mere speeches cannot get rid of begging bowl.

Speaking on floor of the National Assembly during discussion on economic crisis in the country, the finance minister said the government wanted to make the next IMF programme the last one for the country expressing the confidence that the opposition parties would give concrete suggestions to achieve the objective.

Asad Umar said the PTI inherited severe economic crisis and it was impossible to come out crisis without any bail-out package. “Then we decided that we will talk to IMF and friendly countries simultaneously,” he said adding the government decided to approach IMF for formal programme but it was in mind that there wouldnot be 100 percent dependence on the programme.

Asad Umar said Saudi Arabia agreed to deposit three billion dollars with State Bank of Pakistan for a period of one year while the friendly country would provide nine billion dollars of oil on deferred payment for a period of three years.

The finance minister said the prime minister is now visiting China and with aim to take the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Project to the next phase of the establishment of special economic zone.

He said that bolstering exports, reducing fiscal and trade deficit and generating job opportunities for the youth were the priorities of the government to steer the country out of current economic crisis.

The finance minister pointed out that short term stabilisation has been achieved as a result of some steps in the past two months. He said the stock markets are now witnessing stabilisation.

He said the stock market raised by five thousand points in the last few days and of the view that the stock market had start witnessing positive trends even before the announcement of Saudi relief package.

He said a bilateral trade framework is being prepared to reduce the deficit of trade with China. He said China is fully supporting us in this endeavor, adding that joint ventures between Pakistani and Chinese companies in the Special Economic Zones would also help Pakistan cut its overall trade deficit.

The finance minister said a coordinated plan is being prepared to provide job opportunities to the youth which are an asset to the nation. He said only the SME sector will provide two million jobs to the youth in the next five years and same would be done by ensuring better access to finances.

Referring to the steps taken to bolster the exports, the finance minister said that the government reduced the prices of both gas and power for the export industry. Similarly, the poor segments of the society were also protected against the increase in the prices of the utilities.

He said the government also reduced taxes on the export industry in the supplementary budget in order to narrow gap in exports and imports. The minister recalled in starting days of the last government, the trade deficit was 17 billion dollars which increased to 35 billion dollars, last year. Similarly, he pointed out that the current account deficit from 2.5 billion dollars to 18 billion dollars during tenure of the PML-N government.

Talking about reasons behind devaluation of Pakistani currency, Asad Umar said it resulted due to shortage of dollars in Pakistan, saying the last PML-N government printed 1200 billion rupees in a short time.

Speaking on floor of the House, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi called for evolving a Charter of Economy through national consensus to bring the country out of economic crisis. He said the country was facing chronic economic problems and it was collective responsibility of both government and opposition to improve the national economy. “We will give serious consideration to valuable suggestion from the opposition parties,” he said.

Mentioning that the present government was not responsible for the current poor economic situation, the foreign minister said external loans increased from six billion dollars to 28 billion dollars during the last 10 years.

The PML-N member Ahsan Iqbal questioned as to what would be strategy of the government to find long-term solution to chronic problems, saying there was no short cut achieve the same goal. “The government will have to show seriousness to take forward the country,” he said. He said it was the opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif who offered Charter of Economy in his inaugural speech in the National Assembly.