Standoff in capital: Political gridlock delays major transactions, says Dar
“We could have added $2.4 billion to our foreign exchange reserves but the latest political crisis has delayed three important transactions, including the issue of Sukuk, divestment of Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) shares and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) next tranche release,” he said.
He was talking to the Asian Development Bank’s newly appointed president Takehiko Nakao, who had called on him on Tuesday. Dar, however, assured Nakao that the government would resolve the issue amicably as it had already constituted a committee on electoral reforms, said an official statement.
Briefing the ADB official on the economic condition of the country, the finance minister said the government was following a pro-development macro-economic agenda.
“Improvements can be seen in revenue collection (16.44%), decrease in budget deficit (5.7%), growth in foreign remittances (13.7%), growth in large-scale manufacturing (4.2%) and the increase in the disbursement of agricultural credit (15.91%),” he said.
Dar said the government had also increased spending on the social safety net and the allocation had increased from a mere Rs40 billion to Rs118 billion in the last 14 months. “We ensured that no cuts were made in the Public Sector Development Programme allocations,” he added.
The minister said Pakistan needed the ADB’s support on Diamer-Bhasha dam as resolving the energy crisis was the priority of the government.
“World Bank is going to hold a Business Opportunity Conference in Washington on October 8 and we are going to discuss the Diamer-Bhasha dam project in the conference because it has vital importance for generating energy as well as water conservation,” he told the ADB president.
The minister said the government wanted to proceed with TAPI and CASA-1000 projects for fulfilling the energy needs of the country in near future.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Major General Saeed Aleem also gave a brief presentation to the ADB President on the recent flood damages in Punjab, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan.
At this occasion, the ADB chief expressed his sympathies for the flood affectees and said the ADB would like to assist in their rehabilitation process.
“ADB helped the people in the Philippines affected by the Typhoon Yolanda and in 2005, we also helped the people affected by the earthquake,” he further, adding: “We are happy to know that the government of Pakistan has immediately started the relief work in the flood hit areas”.
Nakao said though his bank could lend only $1 billion to any country for the development projects, yet they would continue supporting Pakistan in projects such as renewable energy, Jamshoro and projects of regional connectivity.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2014.
COMMENTS (7)
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corruption is on hold due no loans coming in. This is higgest problem for them be ause they need to loot and plunder for next election.
Imran Khan one man has set a fire on the tail of status qou, they are running in circle trying to bite of their own past but it is impossible for them to hide the truth.
These United Status Qou Parties, who promise to drag each other on the road in election campaign, join hands and stand shoulder to should with each other after the election.
Their affection towards themselves is evident in the Joint Session of the Parliament, where each of the looter respects the other.
My Friends our eyes are now open, we can see, we can understand the game you play, the dance you tap.
Get Ready to Face us
We are the Nation, We are the People of Pakistan.
Its time we off load you from our nation like in the flight yesterday.
We dont stnadby Imran Khan beacuse he looks pretty
We standby his vision, we stand for our Generations to come
We stand for a Naya Pakistan Insha Allah
@Shuaib Bhat: I agree with your point of view . This is how IK has been cut to his size and i also hope that by the end of his dharna he will only be a few inches tall ( the foul language that he uses every evening and tons of lies he feeds to dharnawalas ) The monetary loss is also not that big a problem but what bothers me is that he is practically teaching rowdyism to the general public. Thats why i want him removed without further delay.
@oBSERVER: He was obviously forced to admit that. You think anyone goes to NAB and just writes all this stuff about oneself and their party leader under the regime of a dictator who overthrew their Government?
@By stander: Then tomorrow you will blame them for driving out these miscreants. I am happy IK did this dharna! Now he has lost a 25 to 33% of his voters. He goes around saying NS will get a rude awakening, it is in fact the otherway around! PML-N has played the right political cards and made the right political decisions, though terrible for the economy. That can be squarely blamed on Imran Khan and his lunacy!!
@By stander: No Nation has ever reposed trust in this man or his leadership. You are not current on state of affairs.An ordinary Accountant who admitted money laundering through affidavit, is Nawaz's personal accounts manager.That's all.
Mr Ishaq Dar, you and your government are responsible for all the losses caused by these two dharnas. The nation has reposed a trust in you and your leadership to safe guard the interest of the state and citizens. If the state and citizens are losing billions because of this ongoing drama in islamabad, you are squarely responsible for this because any activity hindering with the functioning of the state has to be removed by the government. What else is the function of the government ? Governments do take unpopular decisions, take it and throw these miscreants out of islamabad. They are hurting the state and its institutions very badly. Enough is enough. If you can not act quickly then QUIT.