IMF tranche will stabilize economy, says federal minister

Naveed Qamar hopes tough govt decisions will put the country on right track

KARACHI:

Federal Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar has voiced hope that the release of the next tranche of $1.1 billion by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would stabilise the ailing economy. "The government is trying to put the country on the right track," he said while talking to the media after attending an MoUs signing ceremony in Tando Muhammad Khan district on Sunday.

"But the road is not easy. On the contrary, it is a very difficult path," he added. Earlier, he oversaw the signing of MoUs between Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University of Law (SZABUL) and Law College Tando Muhammad Khan as well as National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and Nursing College Tando Muhammad Khan.

He also inaugurated an 18-kilometer-long road in the town. He compared the Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharifled government's measures for restoring the economy as the lifesaving surgery for a patient. "When a doctor says it is [bitter pills and surgery] necessary to save life, the patient agrees.

The same is the situation with Pakistan," he said. "We hope this bitter pill will restore our economy." He claimed that the government was forced to take the difficult measures to stabilise the economy and to stop begging from the world. "Pakistan's condition has become such that wherever we go they think beggars have come," he said. The minister deplored that the doors of the friendly countries, which used to financially assist Pakistan, have been shut.