Incumbent prime minister and president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, promised that “his party will carry out an “economic explosion” in the country if voted to power in May 11 general elections.”
PML-N president Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif - now in his third term as prime minister of Pakistan - speaking at an election rally at Mansehra in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 25 March 2013 said he will carry out an “economic explosion” to resolve all the country’s economic problems.
“In my government (1998) I did a nuclear explosion to make Pakistan an atomic power… this time there will be an economic explosion to turn the country into a commercial powerhouse if voted to power,” Nawaz told the rally.
Senior leader of PML-N, Senator Raja Zafar ul Haq, told Truth Tracker (TT) he has no doubt the country is facing grave economic challenges, but he said PML-N had the capacity and a plan to steer the country out of economic crisis.
“Interim steps have already been taken [to bring economic revolution] in the country. The prime minister has visited China and Turkey and signed business and trade deals and a number of Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) to boost economic activities with friendly countries,” says Senator Raja.
On the economic front, he said, the government is facing two major challenges. First, an ongoing wave of terrorism ruining the economy. Raja said the government was taking serious steps to overcome the menace, particularly in major cities.
According to Raja, the second most crucial challenge is the “energy crisis.” The energy crises, he said, is hampering commercial and economic activities across the country. “People will soon feel the changes and see reduction in power load shedding. The government is tackling the issue [load shedding] head on to put an end to the country’s energy crisis.”
To assess the PMLN government’s performance on the economic front after 100 days in office, Truth Tracker (TT) contacted Munawar Mughal, chairman of the Expo Committee and member of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries Islamabad. Mughal expressed dismay over the government’s performance.
“After completion of more than 100 days, there is no progress on economic front. Instead the [economic] condition has deteriorated further,” says Mughal.
Instead of improvement, said Mughal, the law and order and electricity [energy] crises are going downhill with each passing day. “No investor - whether local or foreign - will venture to invest money in Pakistan with the prevailing terrible law and order situation and hours’ long power and gas load shedding,” says Mughal. A trend has local investors taking their money out of Pakistan and making investments in other countries. Mughal said this is an indicator of the poor state of the economy.
Muhammad Saleem, a banker, told Truth Tracker that when the PMLN took over the reigns of the government a dollar was available at 97 rupees. “Its 106 rupees now and the devaluation [of rupees] led to problems like low growth and high inflation,”says Saleem. High inflation, he said, led to a sharp rise in the price of food and essential items, making them unaffordable to a majority of poor people.
He said people used to save money from their salaries and businesses and deposit it in banks. “For the last several months there has been a steep decrease in savings and bank deposits by the people and the trend indicates bad economic policies,” says the banker.
Muhammad Bilal, a businessman in Islamabad, said that with rising inflation, the purchasing power of people had declined. “Due to wrong economic policies the business community is facing losses every day…and many are planning to close their businesses,” says Bilal. He said if the government were interested in boosting business and economic activities, it must take serious steps and introduce business and trade-friendly policies.
Considering the views of independent experts and government party leaders, Truth Tracker has determined that no progress towards fulfilling the promise has been made yet, so the promise is underway.
Nothing is impossible in this world, only ideas become realities, struggles gives fruits, dedications give innovations, centers become multinational, if required parameters are justified in the right way, Allah will help me if I am sincere & serious to my objective.
March 20, 2014
March 19, 2014
March 18, 2014
March 13, 2014
|