Pakistan opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan's government for unsustainably borrowing money from international lending agencies, saying the "selected" premier has thrown "the country to the wolves".
In a statement on Thursday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the prime minister must resign and go home before Pakistan reaches a point of no return, The News International reported.
"The selected Prime Minister Imran Khan has thrown the country to the wolves, and succeeding governments will bear the burden of lifting Pakistan out of crisis," he said.
He pointed out that from his first day in office, the prime minister's entire economic policy is based on begging alms and loans from the world.
In 2021 alone, Bilawal said the prime minister has borrowed USD 10 billion with a sharp increase of 35 percent.
"This incompetent and selected prime minister has overseen Pakistan's external debt increasing to USD 116 billion from USD 95 billion with an increase of USD 21 billion," he added.
He said Pakistan will never be able to repay these loans, even if all national assets are mortgaged to our creditors. "This puts Pakistan in a precarious position, from which the country might not recover," he further added.
"The selected prime minister has pushed the country to a heavily compromised state. We may not realise it now, but the next generations will suffer under the burden of this vast accumulated debt," he added.
He said, to add insult to injury, the federal cabinet - which happens to be the epitome of corruption - is squandering this borrowed money. "The cabinet and the PM's crony capitalist mafias are embezzling money from the public exchequer, he further added.
Pakistan's economy is in dire condition and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further impacted economic growth.
Even as Pakistan's foreign debt and liabilities continue to mount, its reliance on foreign commercial loans has been increasing at a rapid pace as the country obtained USD 3.110 billion through this head out of a total of USD 7.2 billion external loan inflows during the first eight months (July-February) period of the current fiscal year.
The World Bank recently set tough conditions for USD 1.5 billion lendings such as an increase in electricity rates, introduction of new power and tax policies, putting the Imran Khan-led government in a tight spot that is already seeking a review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal.
According to The News International, the foreign commercial loans of USD 3.11 billion and USD 1 billion from Chinese deposits helped the government to achieve the net transfer of dollar inflows in the current fiscal year.
( With inputs from ANI )
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