Giving IPPs incredible profits tantamount to economic suicide

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Thursday said in the presence of contradictory, ambiguous and negative policies, only a miracle can save Pakistan from going bankrupt.
Pakistan had gone bankrupt in 2018 but an IMF loan and help from friendly countries saved it from insolvency but after rescue, no attempt was made to correct the direction of the economy, the result of which is now a more serious crisis, it said.
Pakistanís import bill from 1960 to 1973 was less than one billion dollars while from 1973 to 2002 the volume of imports increased to eleven billion dollars annually but reforms were avoided to please influential people, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW. In 2018 the import bill for goods jumped to $63 billion while the services import bill jumped to $9 billion which shook the foundations of the economy, he added.
Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that from 2002 t0 2022 the import bill jumped by 600 percent which was unsustainable while the energy import bill surpassed $27 billion but no attempts have been made to save electricity. IPPs are getting unbelievable profits and government has to pay Rs380 billion to Chinese IPPs while China has refused to reconsider the amount, he informed.
Dr. Mughal noted that many export industry is almost 1000 to 1200 kilometre away from the port, power plants using imported fule are also set up around a thousand kilometre away from the port due to political considerations, and no major dam has been constructed since 1973 which is a recipe for disaster.

He said that goods are not transported through rail but by road transport which increases the cost of doing business and rail as well as public transport have not been developed which benefits the automakers and damages the country and masses.

Due to the plight of public transport, people are forced to use motorbikes and cars, which waste tens of millions of rupees of fuel daily.

The majority of the economic experts are linked to international institutions therefore they do not reveal the truth about important issues, he said.