The first step required for the betterment of any situation is to accept the reality. When you accept the reality only then you can take suitable steps towards the betterment in the real sense. If one is not ready to accept the reality of present then he can never take any fruitful step towards the betterment of future. Same is the case with the incumbent federal government of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in Pakistan. The economy of the country was continuously going down, but the government kept on neglecting the reality and followed the way of giving the satisfactory statements. Resultantly, the foreign currency reserves of the country kept on coming down rapidly. With every passing week the foreign currency reserves kept on depleting.
When the government is busy in celebrations of so called success in the Geneva conference due to the promises which were made by the international institutions and the world powers, the foreign currency reserves have come down to historical low. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves dropped $1.2 billion to $4.3bn as of January 6, the central bank said on Thursday, leaving the country with barely three weeks’ worth of import cover. The drop was due to external debt repayments, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a statement. Net foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks stood at $5.8bn, and total liquid reserves at $10.1bn, the bank added.
No one can deny the fact of apparent efforts of the incumbent government for the betterment of the country particularly for the betterment of the economy of the country. The government recently hold Geneva conference where the countries and international institutions promised to give 9.7 billion dollars. Besides this the recent visit of the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to United Arab Emirates (UAE) is also in front of everyone. But, again there comes the issue of the acceptance of reality. The government has announced that the PM’s visit to UAE has added an assistance of 4 billion dollars. But, the reality is totally antithesis to the claims of the government. The reality behind the 04 billion dollars assistance from UAE and Saudi Arabia is that UAE rolled over the loan of 2 billion dollars which was to be paid by Pakistan in February and besides this the UAE announced another loan of 01 billion dollars for the country. Similarly Saudi Arabia announced 01 billion dollars for the imports of petroleum products which would be paid in terms of deferred payments. So, the collective dollars which are announced for Pakistan are 01 billion dollars by UAE. Remaining 03 billion dollars are not supposed to land in Pakistan’s account. But, the government is misleading itself and nation by saying that Pakistan has successfully got 04 billion dollars from UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Country is two weeks away from its default. Apparent efforts are being made, but, the result oriented things are still could not be materialized. Reserves are still coming down, but the government is still busy in satisfying itself and the nation. The economic situation of the country has reached to the point where there is the need of the hour to impose an economy emergency. Otherwise, neglecting the facts may cause huge devastations.
Published in Daily Country News, January 14th, 2023.