KARACHI: Concerns are at peak over the health of Pakistan’s economy as foreign reserves run out, inflation stands at decades-high levels and industrial growth slows down, with experts and industry leaders raising alarm and calling on the government to take decisive action, particularly on a stalled IMF bailout plan.
The biggest worries center around Pakistan’s ability to pay for imports such as energy and food and to meet sovereign debt obligations abroad. Right now, foreign exchange reserves with the central bank stand at just $4.6 billion, barely enough to cover a month’s imports, compelling the government to restrict the import of goods, including industrial raw materials, to stop dollar outflows.
Before devastating floods last year, an estimated $33.5 billion was needed to fulfil external financing needs for the 2022-23 financial year, according to the central bank, to be arranged through the daunting target of almost halving the current account deficit and receiving debt rollovers from friendly countries.
But in the aftermath of the floods, exports have slumped and imports have grown to make up for essential commodities lost in the flooding of millions of hectares of farmland.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee has weakened 20 percent since the start of the year and the decline in the currency is pushing up the cost of imports, borrowing and debt servicing, and in turn will further exacerbate inflation running already at a multi-decade high.
“The situation is alarming,” Tariq Yousuf, President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), told Arab News. “More than 7,500 containers [of imports] are stuck at ports and our industries are facing an acute shortage of raw materials, bringing them almost to the verge of collapse.”
Last year, the cash-strapped country imposed a ban on the import of luxury goods to avoid a balance of payment crisis but lifted some of the restrictions after pressure from the industrial sector.
Experts warn that a dire dollar crunch in Pakistan may further hurt the import of essential items in the coming months and lead to a shortage of several food items. The fast-depleting forex stockpile has currently left banks refusing to issue new letters of credit (LCs) for importers, hitting an economy already squeezed by soaring inflation and lackluster growth. The central bank has also restricted overseas payments and halved the amount of foreign currency that a person can carry overseas to $5,000.
Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, chairman of the standing committee of the National Assembly (NA) on Finance and Revenue, told Arab News Pakistan was in a “dire situation.”
“There are problems opening LCs, approved by the State Bank of Pakistan, affecting raw material imports.”
Without an LC as a financial guarantee to foreign exporters, import clearances rarely go through.
Sheikh said thousands of import containers were stuck at various ports, which was affecting the manufacturing industry and fueling a fear of industrial closure and further inflation hikes.
The inflation rate in Pakistan is already worryingly high, recorded at 24.5 percent in December 2022, double the figure from around 12 percent in December 2021.
“Both industrialists and the masses are concerned that commodity prices are rising on a daily basis,” Sheikh said. “The inflation will increase further if the State Bank of Pakistan does not allow new LCs opening and the clearance of older LC contracts.”
The situation is particularly precarious for the country’s pharmaceutical industry, currently left with only a few days of stock.
“Pharmaceutical industries keep inventory for three months, but since November 2022 raw material arrival has stopped due to the LCs issue,” Dr. Sheikh Kaiser Waheed, spokesman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA), told Arab News.
“Due to resource constraints, the drugs for diabetes, cardiac patients, cancer patients etc, are in short supply,” he said. “This shortage is also partly due to excessive buying by patients as precautionary measures after reports of the import situation came out.”
The economic strain has caused a number of textile units, car assemblers, and other industries to suspend or scale down their operations while fears of petroleum product shortage from next month loom, according to industrialists and government sources.
In a meeting with industrialists at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), the central bank governor this week announced that a joint committee would be set up with the FPCCI to resolve the “huge backlog in LCs,” according to a statement from the Chamber.
Pakistani senior economists interviewed by Arab News said the current economic situation was a result of the government’s “indecisiveness” with regards to negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
A 9th IMF review to clear the release of the next tranche of funds to Pakistan has been pending since September.
“The economic situation of Pakistan is alarming … but the indecisiveness of government officials further compounds the situation,” Dr. Ashfaque Hassan Khan, a senior economist, said.
Current Minister of Finance Ishaq Dar and Minister of State for Finance, Aisha Ghaus Pasha, did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
“The only options before the government now are to either accept the IMF program (with all its conditions) or leave it,” Khan added. “Pakistan is now in a catch-22 position. The government ahead of the general elections would be reluctant to burn its political capital (by imposing more taxes and raising the rate of inflation).”
There is also talk of a mini-budget being announced to meet IMF conditions after its 9th review of the $7 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
“The government is negotiating with the IMF on an energy tariff increase and setting a market based exchange rate of the US dollar, which will increase inflation and there are discussions on the interest rate hike also,” Sheikh, the chairman of the NA standing committee, said.
“A mini-budget will be announced, as without it the IMF’s conditionalities cannot be fulfilled”.
The chairman denied having knowledge of the exact measures and proposed date of the mini-budget, amid speculation about a new petroleum levy and more taxes on imported and local vehicles.
“Hopefully ‘terms of engagement’ with the IMF finalized by the government of Pakistan are solid enough to finalize the 9th review,” Dr. Khaqan Najeeb, former adviser to the finance ministry, said.
“To get out of the present economic crisis, Pakistan must work on getting the IMF back, have a market determined exchange rate, rollover, reprofiling or restructuring of debt and effective social protection,” Dr. Sajid Amin, a senior economist, said.
With Pakistan’s economy in a tailspin, experts call for end to ‘indecisiveness’ on IMF program
https://arab.news/2s7cj
With Pakistan’s economy in a tailspin, experts call for end to ‘indecisiveness’ on IMF program
- More than 7,500 containers stuck at Pakistani ports create acute deficit of industrial, pharmaceutical raw materials
- Government may announce mini-budget to meet demands of the International Monetary Fund and break import deadlock
Dengue outbreak triggers alarm in southwestern Pakistan’s district Kech
- District Kech reported 2,131 cases in April and May, while two people died from infection
- While provincial government says it is taking anti-dengue measures, locals say otherwise
QUETTA: Health officials expressed alarm at the outbreak of dengue virus in southwestern Pakistan’s district Kech on Thursday, as official data showed the infection claimed two lives and infected over 2,000 people during the months of April and May.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease that is transmitted from humans to mosquitoes. In its most lethal form, the disease is known to be fatal. Patients who are infected with dengue suffer severe flu-like symptoms, including high fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pain, nausea, and vomiting that can last for a week.
Data by the Provincial Malaria Program showed district Kech reported 2,131 dengue cases in April and May. Two patients also died from the virus while undergoing treatment in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi.
“Due to the weather changes, we have been witnessing a dengue outbreak in Kech district because every year after the mid of May, the temperature increases up to 37 degrees in which dengue mosquitoes can’t survive,” Dr. Meer Yousaf, head of the Provincial Malaria Program, told Arab News.
“But for this season, the temperature has not increased.”
Balochistan health officials say only three districts in the province, namely Kech, Gwadar, and Lasbela, were declared high-risk places for the virus. However, he said only district Kech has reported a gradual surge in positive cases over the last six years.
Yousaf said despite intense insecticide fogging, the virus cannot be stopped from spreading until the masses don’t cooperate with the government to take preventive measures within their homes.
Dr. Khalid Baloch, the medical superintendent at District Headquarter Hospital Kech, said authorities are conducting daily tests of over 200 people in the district out of which 30 plus people are testing positive.
“We have established a ten-bed isolation ward in the hospital but due to the burgeoning number of patients, many are now admitted in general wards,” Baloch told Arab News.
He said that out of over 5,000 dengue tests conducted in May 2023, a total of 1,016 patients tested positive for the infection. “We are now treating critical patients inside the dengue ward but still many patients are moving to Karachi for dengue treatment,” he added.
Kech government officials say they have been conducting anti-dengue measures such as spraying insecticides to kill mosquitoes. However, local residents deny these claims.
“The health authorities’ claims of anti-dengue spray in Turbat city and other areas of the district are totally false because the hospital is filled with dengue patients,” Yasir Aslam Baloch, a local journalist, told Arab News.
Yousaf said health authorities were running awareness campaigns against the disease. However, he said people were not taking preventive measures.
“Due to the shortage of clean water, the majority of people place their uncovered water buckets in their courtyards which is an active source for dengue mosquito breeding,” he said, expressing the fear that the coming monsoon season would cause a further spike in dengue cases in the district.
Prominent Pakistani rights activist Jibran Nasir ‘picked up’ at gunpoint, says wife
- Jibran Nasir has been increasingly critical of Pakistan’s powerful military on social media
- Nasir was forcibly taken away at gunpoint by 15 men, says wife and actress Mansha Pasha
ISLAMABAD: Prominent Pakistani lawyer and rights activist Jibran Nasir was “picked up” by over a dozen unidentified persons in Karachi on Thursday night, his wife and actress Mansha Pasha said.
Nasir frequently criticizes Pakistan’s leading political parties, the religious right wing, and the country’s powerful military. He contested the 2013 and 2018 general elections as an independent candidate but managed to secure a few hundred votes each time.
Nasir has been increasingly critical of the Pakistani military on social media ever since it announced trying supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan under military laws for attacking its installations and torching government buildings on May 9.
“Approximately half an hour ago, my husband Jibran Nasir who is a very famous lawyer and who has done a lot for Pakistan— I don’t have to say it, you know it already— he has been picked up by some men,” Pasha said in a video message.
“We were on our way home after having dinner when a large white Vigo car intercepted our car, almost crashing into it, and around 15 men with pistols forcibly took my husband away,” she added.
“I would want you all to raise your voices and pray that my husband returns soon.”
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party demanded Nasir’s release, saying that his abduction is against the country’s constitution.
“Law of the jungle must not prevail in Pakistan,” the PTI wrote on Twitter.
Feminist rights movement Aurat March also demanded Nasir’s release, condemning his alleged abduction.
“We strongly condemn his abduction (which is a clear violation of citizen rights) & urge the govt & LEAs to ensure his immediate + unconditional safe release,” it wrote on Twitter.
Rights groups have raised alarm over the crackdown against PTI leaders and supporters, which has resulted in several of Khan’s aides leaving the party and distancing themselves from him since May 9.
Meanwhile, the government has denied reports it is illegally abducting dissenters and has repeatedly said only those who partook in violence and vandalism on May 9 would be dealt with according to law.
The continuing political turmoil has exacerbated Pakistan’s economic crisis with inflation at record highs, with fears of default looming large as the South Asian country so far fails to revive a stalled $6.5 billion loan program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Indian fishermen released from Pakistani jail remember fellow inmates who died last month
- Pakistan releases 200 Indian fishermen from Malir prison as goodwill gesture toward India
- Two Indian fishermen in Malir prison passed away last month due to health complications
KARACHI: Pakistani authorities released 200 Indian fishermen on Thursday, who expressed happiness at the thought of meeting their families again but were sad to leave behind fellow Indian prisoners who passed away in Malir prison.
Indian and Pakistani fishermen are routinely detained by both maritime agencies on charges of illegally entering each other’s territorial waters. The nuclear-armed nations’ borders are not clearly defined in the Arabian Sea and many fishing boats lack the technology to steer clear of any intrusion.
Karachi’s Malir prison has been in the headlines since the past year after several detainees of Afghan and Indian origin passed away due to health complications. In May, two Indian fishermen Balo Jetha and Soma Deva passed away after their health deteriorated in prison. Jail authorities insist inmates are treated well and provided medical treatment whenever they fall ill.
Parmar Sajjan, one of the Indian fishermen released on Thursday, expressed joy at being released but said he would miss his friend Deva, whose body is currently kept at a morgue in Karachi.
“We used to live together [in jail], and if he were alive, he would have accompanied us [to India],” Sajjan told Arab News. “I am happy, and I believe he would have been happy too,” he added. Sajjan said his friend was provided health care in jail before he was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Sajjan thanked Pakistani authorities for releasing him, adding that he was “extremely happy” that he would finally get to meet his family.
Another Indian fisherman, Hussain Rahim, wished India would reciprocate the move and release Pakistani fishermen who were languishing in Indian prisons. “I want to express that just as we fishermen are being released here, I hope that the Pakistani fishermen imprisoned in India will also be freed as soon as possible,” Rahim told Arab News.
When asked about the facilities being provided to Indian fishermen in Malir jail, Rahim said they were “treated like brothers” there.
Fatima Majeed, a Pakistani fisherwomen and activist, said she could feel the pain of the Indian inmates as her father was also imprisoned in India in 1988.
“I can feel their pain from very close because I have experienced this time too, I have also passed through it,” Majeed told Arab News. “It’s a very painful time.” She said when fishermen are arrested, the women in their families have to seek work in the informal sector to feed their families.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, in response to a question during a weekly briefing, said by releasing Indian prisoners, Pakistan had demonstrated its “consistent policy of not politicizing humanitarian matters.” She hoped India should also release Pakistani fishermen who were imprisoned in Indian jails.
When asked whether a judicial commission existed to ensure the swift release of fishermen, Baloch responded in the affirmative.
“The commission surely exists and the two sides have remained in contact on the mechanics of such visits which we hope will facilitate the civilians and fishermen who are held in prisons in Pakistan and India,” she said.
Australia’s Steve Smith wary of Pakistani cricketers Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi ahead of Test tour
- Pakistan will tour Australia for a three-match Test series in December 2023/January 2024
- Steve Smith describes Babar Azam as a ‘dangerous’ batter who makes big scores at decent pace
ISLAMABAD: Former Australian captain Steve Smith said in a video uploaded by Cricket Australia on Thursday that the Aussies would be wary of “dangerous” Pakistani batter Babar Azam and fiery pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, as the former world champions build the hype for Pakistan’s upcoming tour of the country in December 2023/January 2024.
Pakistan will make a trip Down Under in December 2023 to take on Australia for the Benaud-Qadir Trophy between the two sides. The three Tests – part of the third World Test Championship cycle – will be played at Perth, Melbourne and Sydney in December and January.
The tour will kick off with the first Test at Peth on December 14 and will mark the first instance of Pakistan playing a Test at the venue. The two teams will face off in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from December 26-30 while the third and final match will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3, 2024.
Pakistan will have high hopes from its all-format skipper Azam and fiery left-handed fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi. In recent years, the two cricketers have become a mainstay in Pakistan’s national squad for all formats of the game.
Azam is currently the only batter in the world who is ranked among the top five batters in all three formats of the game. He is the number one ranked batter in ODIs and is placed at number three in the international men’s T20I rankings while in Tests, he is placed at number five. Afridi is ranked at number five in the Test bowlers’ rankings while in ODIs, he is placed at number 10.
“Babar Azam is a wonderful player,” Smith said. “The last few years he’s got better and better. He’s someone we have to look out for, he’s dangerous.”
Smith said Azam is a better who makes “big scores” and does so at a decent pace.
The Australian batter said Afridi had considerably improved as well over the years, adding that the lanky bowler’s lethal pace with swing is an added advantage.
“The ability to swing it back is obviously a big key for him,” Smith said, adding that the team would be on the lookout for Afridi’s dangerous bowling as well.
“They’re a great team to play against and their supporters are always there, cheering them on, which is great.”
Pakistani elephant Madhubala ‘still’ suffering from potentially fatal parasite infection, confirms vet
- Madhubala is one of only three captive elephants in Pakistan after Noor Jehan passed away in April
- The African elephant can only be shifted to sanctuary once it tests negative for the infection, says vet
KARACHI: Pakistani elephant Madhubala “still” has blood infection Trypanosomiasis, Egyptian veterinarian Dr. Amir Khalil said on Thursday, adding that the animal would be shifted to a new sanctuary once it tests negative for the infection.
Madhubala, one of only three captive elephants alive in Pakistan, was brought to the South Asian country with three other elephants from Tanzania in 2009. One of her long-time companions, 17-year-old Noor Jehan, passed away in April after suffering from multiple ailments including the same Trypanosomiasis infection. Noor Jehan’s death prompted animal rights activists and organizations to raise alarm over Karachi Zoo’s poor living conditions. They demanded Madhubala be shifted to a “species-appropriate” sanctuary immediately to avert another potential tragedy.
Khalil, an employee of the international animal rights welfare organization FOUR PAWS, said last week that the Trypanosomiasis infection can be fatal. However, he said Madhubala was luckier than Noor Jehan as she was provided medicine for the infection before it reached an advanced stage. He also said FOUR PAWS is supporting the Karachi city government’s efforts to build an animal sanctuary at the Safari Park and that Madhubala would be shifted to it once it is completed.
“Madublaha has a blood parasite still and she will receive medicine two times within two weeks, then another blood test [needs] to be done,” Khalil told Arab News. “Transfer should be done only when she is negative,” he added.
Khalil had told Arab News last week that work on the sanctuary at Karachi’s Safari Park has already begun, adding that a night enclosure for Madhubala is also being built according to international standards. He said depending upon Madhubala’s health and the speed of the work on her sanctuary, authorities hope to shift her to it by the end of June or the first week of July.
The developments take place more than two years after Kaavan, dubbed as the “world’s loneliest elephant,” was released from a dilapidated zoo in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. Animal rights activists had long campaigned against the plight of the 35-year-old elephant who had lived alone since the death of his mate in 2012.
Kaavan was transferred to Cambodia in late 2020 in a blaze of publicity after his plight caught the attention of US superstar Cher, who helped raise funds for the jumbo relocation.
