ISLAMABAD: Financial assistance from Saudi Arabia has helped lessen Pakistan’s economic problems, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday, but he added that the country might still need help from the International Monetary Fund.
“We have secured an amazing package from Saudi Arabia that has taken off the financial burden,” he said in a televised speech to the nation. He also thanked the Saudi leadership for reducing visa fees for Pakistani blue-collar workers who go to the Kingdom for jobs.
Khan said his government is trying to secure loans from other “friendly countries” to address the nation’s economic crisis and that he would share more “good news” in the coming days.
“We are negotiating a similar package (to the one from Saudi Arabia) with two other countries and hope to secure it,” he said. “If we get this package, we won’t be burdening our salaried class with more inflation.”
However, Khan did not rule out the possibility of seeking loans from International Monetary Fund, but added that “even if we go to the IMF, we won’t need much from the lender.”
He also revealed that Pakistan will be a peacemaker in the war in Yemen, saying: “We are playing the role of an arbitrator in the Yemen conflict.”
The speech came just a day after Pakistan secured a $6 billion financial-assistance package from Saudi Arabia during a visit to the Kingdom. In a condemnation of the leading opposition parties, he said the country’s debt increased from 6,000 billion to 30,000 billion rupees in the past 10 years, and all state enterprises were running at a loss, to the tune of billions of rupees. Khan also made it clear to the leaders of the opposition parties that they will not deter the government through protests, nor would any reconciliation offers be extended.
“The country has no future as long as the corrupt go scot-free,” he said. “The process of accountability will continue, come what may.”
The prime minister said his government is conducting an audit of the development funds handled by previous governments to hold the “corrupt accountable.”
Referring to money laundering, he said looted money is first transferred tp phony bank accounts, then laundered abroad. “We are strengthening our institutions to tackle money laundering,” he added.
Exporters and foreign investors will be encouraged through a one-time offer to help improve the economic situation and create jobs in the country, Khan said. He will also announce a “safety net for the downtrodden” in the coming days, and urged the nation to maintain its support for the government for some time, so that it can properly address all issues.
“The country will rise rapidly as we have got all the needed potential,” he said. “The time is not far away when we will be extending loans to other nations instead of getting them.”
Pakistan might still need IMF help, despite Saudi bailout: Imran Khan
Pakistan might still need IMF help, despite Saudi bailout: Imran Khan
- Prime Minister thanks Saudi leadership for reducing visa fees for Pakistanis who go to the Kingdom to work
- Pakistan is strengthening its institutions to curb money laundering, says Khan
Greek coast guard search for 15 after migrant boat found adrift
- The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water
ATHENS: Greek coast guard were on Monday searching for 15 people who fell into the water from a migrant boat that was found drifting off the coast of Crete with 17 bodies on board.
The 17 fatalities, all of them men, were discovered on Saturday on the craft, which was taking on water and partially deflated, some 26 nautical miles (48 kilometers) southwest of the island.
Post-mortem examinations were being carried out to determine how they died but Greek public television channel ERT suggested they may have suffered from hypothermia or dehydration.
A Greek coast guard spokeswoman told AFP that two survivors reported that “15 people fell in the water” after the motor cut out on Thursday, then the vessel drifted for two days.
At the time, Crete and much of the rest of Greece was battered by heavy rain and storms.
The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water.
The vessel had 34 people on board and had left the Libyan port of Tobruk on Wednesday, the Greek port authorities said. Most of those who died came from Sudan and Egypt.
It was initially spotted by a Turkish-flagged cargo ship on Saturday, triggering a search that included ships and aircraft from the Greek coast guard and the European Union border agency Frontex.
Migrants have been trying to reach Crete from Libya for the last year, as a way of entering the European Union. But the Mediterranean crossing is perilous.
In Brussels, the EU’s 27 members on Monday backed a significant tightening of immigration policy, including the concept of returning failed asylum-seekers to “return hubs” outside the bloc.
The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year — more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.
Greece’s conservative government has also toughened its migration policy, suspending asylum claims for three months, particularly those coming to Crete from Libya.
