FPCCI calls for debt restructuring

KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) has emphasised that all bilateral and multilateral external debts of Pakistan need immediate restructuring on soft terms as economic losses caused by unprecedented floods in the country have surpassed $30 billion.

In a statement on Friday, FPCCI president Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said Pakistan had paid the highest price for global warming despite contributing less than 1 percent in global carbon emissions.

Sheikh highlighted that around 2.8 million people out of total 33 million flood-affectees and internally displaced people (IDPs) were seriously ill due to various pandemics such as dengue, malaria, cholera, typhoid, serious skin infections, and other water-borne and contagious diseases.

FPCCI chief urged the government to negotiate restructuring of external debts with financial institutions such as International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Paris Club, and friendly countries to create fiscal space for flood relief and rebuilding activities. He also extended his advisory services from the platform of FPCCI in formulating strategies for the negotiation.

Sheikh called for adopting austerity measures at every governmental level and redirecting all non-developmental budgets to the relief and rehabilitation - be it provincial and federal.