ISLAMABAD - Senator A Rehman Malik, in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister and which is exclusively available with The Nation, has suggested a number of ‘doable measures’ to retire the huge foreign debt and said that prudent economic measures with steps to ensure sustainable peace and security to foreign investors could help Pakistan overcome the economic crisis facing it.
In the letter which also contained the received stamp of the Prime Minister’s Office, Pakistan People’s Party Senator said that without entering into the blame game of holding one and other responsible for the current economic crisis in the country, all the main stakeholders in the country should join hands and help devise a strategy to steer the country out of the current situation.
Malik came up with a number of proposals for revamping of the national economy in his letter including the establishment of ‘national consortium of Pakistani banks’ to share the burden of foreign debt by one-fourth of the total.
Similarly, he also suggested that three more parliamentary committees on fiscal policy, internal security policy and foreign policy should be constituted and all the issues relating to the national economy be placed before these bodies for deliberations.
Senator Malik further said that with the approval and backing of Parliament government should approach China for financial assistance for retiring foreign debt on deferred payment of five years, and later China should recover this amount through exports from Pakistan and some other trade arrangements.
Senator Malik also suggested selling out some precious commercial land at prime locations across the country and the money so recovered be used for debt retirement. He further suggested that this priced land should be offered to the overseas Pakistanis so that their bond with the country would also strengthen by the economic interest.
He also proposed establishment of Overseas Pakistanis Bank with full control of the things in the hands of overseas Pakistanis under the Pakistani banking laws. This would generate enough funds for repayments of foreign debts and help enhance the foreign reserves of the country.
He also cited the examples of Chinese financial facilitation to some African countries including South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Angola where in return of trade and exports from these countries China had shared their foreign debt burden and helped recover these countries from foreign debt. These arrangements had enhanced Chinese trade in African countries from US dollars 10 billion in 2014 to around $220 billion.
Senator Malik also referred to the case studies of foreign loans restructuring by Turkey and Argentina and stressed the need of following these model to get the country out of the prevailing economic quagmire.
The PPP senator said that provision of conducive business environment would be a prerequisite to attract both local and foreign investors to invest money in projects in Pakistan for which both long term and short term measures would be required to establish durable peace in the country.
He said that National Security Action Plan should have to be in place with a focus on establishing durable peace and improved law and order situation in the country so that the foreign investors should feel secure in investing his capital here.
Senator Malik wished Prime Minister Imran Khan a complete success in his mission to bring back the staggering national economy back on track and hoped that he with the support and backing of the Parliament would achieve this target.
Abrar Saeed