ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday his government was ready to take more “difficult and bold” decisions to steer the South Asian country out of a crippling economic crisis.
The statement came as cash-strapped Pakistan continues to grapple with a widening balance-of-payment crisis, currency depreciation and double-digit inflation.
The country is making desperate attempts to revive a $6 billion loan program it secured from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2019, which would release around $1 billion and help unlock funding from other external sources.
In order to meet IMF conditions, the Sharif government has withdrawn all subsidies on petroleum products and electricity as well as introduced a $47 billion budget for 2022-23, aimed at tight fiscal consolidation.
“We have assumed this responsibility in acutely difficult times, and God willing, we’ll fulfil this responsibility,” the prime minister said, while speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting in Islamabad.
“We have taken difficult and bold decisions, and will do more if needed to fix the country’s economy.”
PM Sharif said his government would not hesitate to take any step to strengthen the country’s dwindling economy. “We will be working diligently and I am sure good times will come,” he said.
The prime minister said they inherited a “big economic challenge” due to the poor economic policies of the former Imran Khan administration.
He said the previous government slashed oil prices to lay a trap, when they were sky high in the world, which was entirely based on “ill intention.”
“If they had cared about public difficulties and problems, they would have left an example of public welfare,” PM Sharif said.
He said the whole world was facing an economic crunch due to soaring oil and commodity prices.
“We have decided in this budget, where we had to raise oil prices with a heavy heart, we have provided relief to 70 million people by giving Rs2,000 each to the needy,” the prime minister said.
“We decided to offset pressure on the poor and will impose tax on the rich, even if it is for one time to reassure the poor and widows that this coalition government is trying to provide relief to them.”
He hoped the affluent would happily share the burden in these difficult times and this would help the government collect hundreds of billion rupees in taxes.