Pakistan's PM-ministers will not take salary: Shahbaz Sharif said- Pay the bills of electricity, water and gas yourself; silence on the mighty army

Posted on 23rd Feb 2023 by rohit kumar

With foreign reserves (deposits) of only $ 3 billion, the last attempt to save Pakistan, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, has begun. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif made important announcements related to a drastic reduction in government expenditure on Wednesday night. Said- I and the rest of the cabinet ministers will not take a salary. All Union ministers will pay the bills of electricity, water, gas, and telephone from their pocket.

 

According to Sharif – the luxury vehicles present with the ministers will be auctioned. An appeal has also been made to the Supreme Court, the High Court, and the bureaucracy to cut down on expenditure.

 

Bahrahal, the surprising thing is that since the formation of the country now (76 years), Sharif did not utter a single word on the budget of the mighty army which has run the country for almost half the time. That too when it has a budget of billions of rupees.

 

First, know what Sharif said

Wazir-e-Azam (Prime Minister) Sharif held a press conference along with several cabinet ministers. Said- To meet the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), major cuts are being made in government expenditure. This is also a message for the general public. These are austerity measures.

 

Sharif said- We will save lakhs of rupees of taxpayers by reducing the expenditure of the government. Various steps are being taken for this and we have taken this decision on our own without any pressure.

 

need to know two things

First: The two Idaars (departments) in Pakistan have more power and attention than the government. These are- Army and Judiciary. In Sharif's press conference, the Judiciary appealed to reduce expenditure and maintain simplicity, but not even a word about the army came out of Shahbaz's mouth.

 

Second: Senior journalist Hamid Mir took a jibe without naming the army. Said - someone had to be left, that's why he was left. Wazir-e-Azam refrained from even taking the names of those from whom there is fear or danger. However, it remains to be seen that the campaign launched by Shahbaz has an impact. In the rule of 13 parties, who will support them and how much? It will be clear within a week.

 

Foreign Ministry has a target of reducing expenditure by 15%.

The Ministry of External Affairs has been asked to cut expenditures by 15%. According to media reports, Embassies in some countries may be closed. Apart from this, there are also orders to reduce staff and strictly stop wasteful expenditures.

 

The Foreign Ministry has been told that some foreign missions (embassies or consulates) should be closed. Apart from this, the staff deployed in these missions should be reduced and other unnecessary expenses should be reduced.

 

According to reports- Foreign Ministry has been asked to reduce the expenditure by 15%. In this regard, an order has also been issued by the Prime Minister's Office ie PMO. It has been said that the Prime Minister has formed a committee to reduce government expenditure because the condition of the economy is not good at this time. The same committee recommended reducing the expenditure of the Foreign Ministry by 15%. After this orders were issued.

 

The country is bankrupt.

Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said that Pakistan is already bankrupt. We are all living in a default country. Regarding the economic crisis of Pakistan, the Defense Minister even said that now even the IMF cannot help us. We have to find a solution on our own.

 

The Defense Minister held the politicians and bureaucracy responsible for the economic condition of the country. He said that the Constitution of Pakistan was not followed. Asif accused Imran's government of giving shelter to terrorists in the country.

 

IMF did not give a loan

 

On 31 January 2023, an IMF team led by Nathan Porter reaches Pakistan. This team has a meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in two phases. The first phase of the meeting will run from January 31 to February 3, while the second phase will run from February 3 to February 9.

 

In the meeting, Pakistan was demanding a loan from the IMF under the bailout package. In fact, in 2019, during Imran Khan's government, the IMF promised to provide more than $ 6 billion to Pakistan under the bailout package. Now, under this promise, Pakistan is seeking another tranche of $1.1 billion from the IMF. However, for this, the meeting which lasted for 10 days remained inconclusive. The IMF team returned from Pakistan.

 

IMF official Nathan Porter said- Virtual discussion on this issue with Pakistan will continue. As of now, no agreement has been signed.

 

3 new conditions of the IMF

IMF has once again refused to give a memorandum named MEFP to Pakistan. This is the memorandum that Pakistan will get a bailout package as soon as it comes into its hands. IMF wants that first the Pakistan government should accept its conditions to improve its economy.

 

IMF has mainly put three types of conditions before the Government of Pakistan for giving loans.

 

1. IMF says that Pakistan is already facing a $900 billion circular debt. In such a situation, if the Government of Pakistan does not take any tough decision to give a boost to the economy, then it will be very difficult to overcome it. In this situation, advice has been given to collect 170 billion rupees from the people of Pakistan through different taxes.

 

2. The second condition is that Pakistan should give tax exemption on the export of goods to improve its economy. After this, the goods manufactured in the country will go to other countries, which will strengthen the economy of Pakistan.

 

Also Read: China agrees to help Pakistan, sanctioned a loan of $ 70 million; You can get money by next week