ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari yesterday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was unsustainably borrowing money from international leasing agencies.
“This unprecedented borrowing is akin to mortgaging the country’s economic integrity and freedom. The PM has thrown the country to the wolves, and the succeeding governments will bear the burden of pulling Pakistan out of crisis,” he said.
Bilawal demanded that the prime minister must resign and go home before Pakistan reached a point of no return.
In a statement, the PPP chief emphasised the ‘incompetence’ of Imran Khan, pointing out that begging alms and loans from the world had been his economic policy since the first day in office.
“The prime minister has travelled to Washington DC, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and China with a beggars’ bowl in hand, offering up Pakistan’s interests to these countries. Pakistan’s economic policies are now being dictated by international donor agencies while the current government merely rubber stamping everything on their table. Pakistan has been left at the mercy of its creditors,” he added.
“In 2021 alone,” he said, “the PM has borrowed $10 billion with a sharp 35pc increase. The PM oversees Pakistan’s external debt which is increasing from $95 billion to $116 billion—an increase of $21 billion.”
He added: “Pakistan will never be able to repay these debts even if all the national assets are mortgaged to the creditors. This situation has put Pakistan into a precarious position, and it has become very difficult for the country to recover from it.”