The incumbent government of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) believes in showing off all the times even if it costs very high. The group of 14 political parties ousted the former Prime Minister Imran Khan by chanting the slogan of progress and development along with the betterment of economy. But, the results which are being witnessed by everyone currently during the government of PDM are totally anti thesis to the slogans. During same month last year Pakistan was having foreign reserves of 16 billion dollars. But, today the country is having only 4.5 billion dollars which are not enough for the imports of one month more.
All the indicators of economy are showing that the practical default of the country has been started. But, the government’s habit of sacrificing everything for its show off still could not be changed. The day when the foreign currency reserves of the country hit the historical low the government released advertisements casting thousands of rupees just to show the masses that economy is all set. There were satisfying contents in the advertisements which were published at the front pages of all the leading newspapers. The content of the advertisement was totally distracting one.
Besides this, the government’s officials are still not ready to admit the reality. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves currently stand at $10 billion and not $4 billion as $6 billion held by commercial banks also belong to the country. The minister made the remarks on Saturday while talking to a private news channel and maintained that Pakistan’s due debts are being returned on time and the country’s forex reserves will “stabilise again very soon”. The statement by the financial czar comes a day after this paper had reported that the country’s forex reserves held by the central bank fell to $4.5 billion – hardly enough to finance 25 days of imports – after Pakistan returned over $1 billion in loans to two foreign commercial banks.
All bells of danger have been rung, but the show off movement by the government is also continued. The Finance Minister has given an irresponsible statement by saying that country is still having 10 billion dollars. The 06 billion dollars in commercial banks are basically not the money of the country instead it is the money which has been deposited by the people of the country. But, the Finance Minister has counted this money with foreign currency reserves. This money cannot be added to the foreign currency reserves. If the country will do so than the masses will loose their money and also confidence from the banks.
When a country defaults then every citizen of that particular country gets disturb. It happens when the country adds the money of people to the foreign currency reserves. Then it happens that the account balance of every citizen comes down to zero automatically. Banks also refuse to pay back money of people. In the current situation if the country does not get the assistance from any friendly country then the reserves will further come down and country may face the default situation. Government should try to avoid show off now. Steps should be taken while accepting the reality.
Published in Daily Country News, January 9th, 2023.