We won’t get out of begging bowl syndrome until we switch to domestic resources: Asad Umar

News Image

MG News | December 12, 2018 at 04:00 PM GMT+05:00

0:00

December 12, 2018 (MLN): Finance Minister Asad Umar, in his recent interview to BBC, talked about the challenges faced by the government of Pakistan and the current status of the economy.

When being called a Mr. U-turner along with the Prime Minister Imran Khan for doing the exact opposite of what they proclaimed to do during the election campaigns, the Finance Minister said that by the time the government came into power, it was a well-known fact that Pakistan was in need of a bailout and that he had repeatedly said it before elections had even started.

“It is not something to be proud of and we are ashamed of it” the minister said. “You have to have low self-respect to go around doing what the Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Pakistan have been doing in the current circumstances and be proud of that” he added.

Asad Umar said that Pakistan has been using its growth strategy, which is consumption led imported capital finance, that has repeatedly landed the country into current account deficit cycles and taken its external debt to a level which is not sustainable.

“We are not going to get out of begging bowl syndrome until we switch to domestic resources and make Pakistan an export oriented economy” he said.

When asked if the government was tempted to take loans from Saudi Arabia and China because it wanted to avoid rigorous conditions from IMF, he said that the government had reached out to its bilateral countries and IMF simultaneously, as there was no time to work out a strategy.

“We do not need IMF to impose any sanctions on us as we have already done what is required for our economy” he retorted.

“We have increased gas and electricity prices, put in a supplementary finance budget and increased taxes. The Central Bank has increased the policy rate as well as devalued rupee and adjusted the currency. Both the fiscal and monetary policy have been moving in the direction of reforms that our needed” he further added.

Copyright Mettis Link News

Related News

Name Price/Vol %Chg/NChg
KSE100 135,939.87
307.74M
-0.41%
-562.67
ALLSHR 84,600.38
877.08M
-0.56%
-479.52
KSE30 41,373.68
101.15M
-0.43%
-178.94
KMI30 191,069.98
82.45M
-1.17%
-2260.79
KMIALLSHR 55,738.07
422.01M
-1.03%
-577.24
BKTi 38,489.75
45.79M
-0.02%
-8.33
OGTi 27,788.15
6.87M
-1.24%
-350.24
Symbol Bid/Ask High/Low
Name Last High/Low Chg/%Chg
BITCOIN FUTURES 116,875.00 120,695.00
116,090.00
-3360.00
-2.79%
BRENT CRUDE 68.81 69.41
68.60
-0.40
-0.58%
RICHARDS BAY COAL MONTHLY 96.50 96.50
96.50
0.50
0.52%
ROTTERDAM COAL MONTHLY 104.50 104.50
104.25
-2.05
-1.92%
USD RBD PALM OLEIN 998.50 998.50
998.50
0.00
0.00%
CRUDE OIL - WTI 66.67 67.13
66.22
-0.31
-0.46%
SUGAR #11 WORLD 16.56 16.61
16.25
0.26
1.60%

Chart of the Day


Latest News
July 15, 2025 at 05:46 PM GMT+05:00

Labubu Mania drives Pop Mart’s profit surge


July 15, 2025 at 05:22 PM GMT+05:00

Big industry output rises 2.29% in May


July 15, 2025 at 04:22 PM GMT+05:00

SYS set for 71% profit surge on global tailwinds



Top 5 things to watch in this week

Pakistan Stock Movers
Name Last Chg/%Chg
Name Last Chg/%Chg