The Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged the international community to consider for a debt waiver for poor and vulnerable countries like his. During the interview with The Associated Press, Khan claimed that the coronavirus will devastate the economies of developing nations, and as a result, richer economies must write off the debts of the world’s poorer countries which includes Pakistan.
“My worry is poverty and hunger,” Khan said. “The world community has to think of some sort of a debt write-off for countries like us, which are very vulnerable, at least that will help us in coping with (the coronavirus).”
Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI expresses his concern over poverty and hunger as a consequence of the Corona Pandemic. Moreover, he urges the world community to think of some sort of debt-off for vulnerable countries.pic.twitter.com/FG6ZDT5h99
— Prime Minister’s Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) March 17, 2020
Using the Novel Coronavirus outbreak as an excuse, the Pakistan PM whined that if a serious outbreak happens in Pakistan, he’s worried that his government’s efforts to lift the ailing economy out of near-collapse would begin an unstoppable slide backwards. Exports would fall off, unemployment would soar and an onerous national debt would become an impossible burden, Khan said.
However, this time, for a change, what Imran Khan has said about his cash-strapped country is nothing but the truth. Even as Pakistan grapples to save itself from the spread of deadly coronavirus, Imran Khan’s government also has severe economic crisis back home to take care of. His Naya Pakistan is incidentally in a war with itself as it deals with its debt-ridden economy.
The cash-strapped nation is currently grappling with the worst financial crisis in its history. The recently published World Bank report, which had retained its projection of India’s growth at 7.5% per annum for the next three fiscal years had predicted the growth of South Asia countries except for Pakistan, whose growth it is set to drop at 2.7% in the FY19-20.
Such is the gravity of the economic crisis in Pakistan that on the occasion of Eid, PM appealed to the people of Pakistan to stand united and help overcome the dire economic situation.
Since the time of his election as Pakistan Prime Minister, Khan has been negotiating with world leaders to winkle out bail packages and temporarily assuage the looming economic disaster without much help. A conducive environment for terrorism to spawn and flourish has also added to the woes of Pakistan as investors have remained away from the terror-prone country.
Pakistan is in desperate straits as economists’ predict its economy is on the brink of collapse. Its impoverished condition is, in fact, no laughing matter. The ‘Trade and Development Report 2019’ released by the United Nations on Thursday has also said that Pakistan’s economic crisis has not been resolved despite the fact that support from China and Saudi Arabia and a large IMF loan have helped address the immediate problem.
In a brief comment on Pakistan in the Asia section, UNCTAD’s annual flagship report went on to say that “Pakistan is in the midst of a crisis” as the growth rate has halved, the balance of payments is in poor shape, the rupee has depreciated significantly and external debt is large and rising.
While Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been busy bickering and whining like a toddler over Kashmir, his already cash-strapped country has been slipping further into a deeper economic crisis. The beggar country has been crying over the rising price of ‘roti’ and ‘naan’, tomatoes and milk. If things continue this way, the day is not far when the Google search engine’s controversy which throws up images of Imran Khan when one searches for “bikhari”- a Hindi word that means “Beggar”, might just change into a crude reality.
Nevertheless, for a country which needs to hold cabinet meetings to discuss increasing prices of Rotis and Naan, they have been threatening India with nuclear war, not once but thrice since India has repealed Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
