Bilawal’s tirade

Speaking at the inaugurating ceremony of an urban forestry project in Karachi, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned the PTI government of launching a protest on roads against what he called anti-people economic policies under the dictates of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and emphasised renegotiation of its current Extended Fund Facility. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has not fulfilled his promise of creating 10 million jobs for the youth and providing five million houses to the people who live in rented accommodation.

This is not the first IMF programme which is loaded with tough conditions impacting the lives of people in the shape of high prices, falling national income and output and rising unemployment. In the decade of 1960s the economy was free from any loan programme of this global lending agency. Major contributory sectors such as agriculture, industry, banking, shipping and insurance were flourishing, creating full employment situation. The reckless policy of nationalization of all categories of industries and financial institutions in the first PPP government of Z.A Bhutto destroyed the basic fundamental of economy, creating unemployment and rendering it vulnerable for getting bailouts from global lending agencies to which tough conditions were attached. For the first time in the history of Pakistan incident of straight firing by police on industrial workers occurred in Karachi. The promise of ‘Roti, KapraaurMakan’ turned out a hollow political slogan. On the contrary PTI government has announced low cost housing schemes in provinces where it has formed governments.

Availing the 13th IMF frontloaded loan programme was inevitable to save the country from default to which it was pushed by the previous two governments. The electricity purchase agreements made in the second Benazir governments that include capacity trap clause and the LNG import agreement of last PML-N government envisaging ‘take or pay clause’ take heavy toll on the economy in the shape of swollen circular debt and frequent doses of increases in gas tariff. The industries which were nationalized in 1972 have become a dead weight liability as the losses incurring public sector corporations devours Rs.400 billion of taxpayers’ money every year and the accumulated losses have reached to Rs.1.8 trillion. It is a herculean task to clear the economic mess that elected governments of two mainstream political parties created in the past.