There is still time to explore other options to avoid the IMF loan. Nothing is impossible.
LAHORE: This is addressed to the finance minister, Ishaq Dar. Without an iota of doubt, it is sheer disaster for Pakistan’s economy to seek a loan (that too at an interest rate of three per cent) from the IMF to repay its old loan. Moreover, the minister’s argument that this was the only option to avoid a default does not hold water.
There were many viable options, and in any case, default is still better than the destruction of the very foundations of a country’s economy. I hope the minister knows that in the recent past, many countries have bravely negotiated with international lending agencies and succeeded in getting reduction of up to 60 per cent of their loans. However, in Pakistan’s case, our loan amount is increasing with alarming speed. It was recently reported that when the PPP government took over in 2008, our debt liability was $40 billion and now it has increased to over $60 billion.
There is still time to explore other options to avoid the IMF loan. Nothing is impossible.
Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad
Published in The Express Tribune, July 14th, 2013.
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