ISLAMABAD - Chairman FPCCI Regional Committee on Industries Atif Ikram Sheikh on Saturday said masses will not accept any deal with the IMF at the cost of CPEC. The government must tell everyone that CPEC cannot be discussed with any country or lending institution as it is a matter of life and death for Pakistan, he said.

He said that any such move to slow the pace of work on CPEC will result in massive reaction with negative political outcome while the economy of the country will suffer beyond imagination.

Atif Ikram Sheikh who is also group leader of Haripur Chamber said that IMF and America are waiting for Pakistan to knock their door for a loan to avoid default so that they can dictate their terms.

US has never linked the economic corridor and its policy towards Pakistan has changed which has also changed IMF’s policy as the US enjoys decisive power in the board of directors of the lending institution, he added.

The business leader said that our forex reserves will fall to ten billion in June and would be dismally low until September next year while the country will require 32 billion dollars to survive.

During the same time, Pakistan is expected to receive eight billion dollars under CPEC and other foreign investments which will leave behind a huge gap of 24 billion dollars which could be bridged through borrowing.

However, he said, no institution or country should be allowed to take undue advantage of the crisis in Pakistan while the government should stop the policy of getting loans to push the crisis away and initiate meaningful reforms.