KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that he was informed by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail that Pakistan could receive Rs2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Miftah Ismail relayed a message in the morning saying that we will hopefully be receiving not $1bn from the IMF, but $2bn. I replied by saying that our real goal is [achieving] self-reliance. Easier said than done,” the premier said while addressing the ‘Turnaround Pakistan’ conference organised by the Ministry of Planning and Development.
The premier stressed the need for all quarters to work together for the country’s progress as well as the need for self-reliance. Self-reliance guarantees political and economic independence, he said.
The prime minister’s comments came hours after Ismail announced that the country had received combined economic and financial targets for the seventh and eighth reviews of its IMF bailout programme.
Talking about the recent opening of a mega development project in Bangladesh, PM Shehbaz said that his counterpart had proudly announced that they had achieved this feat without the help of international donors.
“Surely, this is a big achievement,” he said, adding that Pakistan was not lacking in resources or expertise.
He cited the example of Reko Diq, saying Pakistan had wasted billions but had yet to earn anything from the project. PM Shehbaz said that Pakistan was drowning under debts, saying the country’s liabilities far outweighed its assets.
He regretted that the 1,200-megawatt Haveli Bahadur Shah Power Plant, set up by the former PML-N government, had still not been completed.
“If you look at the electricity we were supposed to get, which was supposed to run the agriculture sector, our industries, [and] give millions employment; when you take all of this into account, then we suffered a colossal loss.”
During his speech, the premier said that Pakistan had nothing to show after 75 years of independence. “But nothing will be achieved by crying over spilled milk,” he asserted.
He went on to say that a few weeks ago, there was a danger of the country running out of edible oil. He said he wrote to Indonesian President Joko Widodo in this regard and also spoke to him on the phone.
“The Indonesian president said he would issue instructions,” he said, adding that he directed a minister to go to the country at his own expense, where he stayed until the vessels departed for Pakistan.
“This is one example. When you want to work then countless doors open.”
PM Shehbaz went on to say that Pakistan was facing countless issues as he called for rising above personal interests and differences.
“New governments blame the previous governments. We need to decide on changing the country’s fate and for that we need to work day and night. Unless this is done, we will keep moving in circles,” he said.