ISLAMABAD: Ratifying the Sept 30 decisions of Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet, the federal cabinet on Tuesday expressed its concern over inflation and wanted economic team to prepare a strategy against persistent increase in prices of essential commodities but at the currently increased gas and electricity prices on account of quarterly fuel charges adjustment.
This was stated by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz, at a media briefing after a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He maintained that the prime minister and the government had nothing to do with the treason cases registered against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and other leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and the Punjab government would investigate to ascertain who are behind registration of cases.
The minister said: “that might have been done by the PML-N’s own people”.
He said, “Every day many FIRs are registered, are all of them registered on the instruction of the premier?”
He stated that the narrative of the opposition was strengthening the designs of the enemy.
The minister stated that Asad Umar, who gave a briefing to the cabinet on economic indicators, stated that all other indicators, except inflation were good and satisfactory with foreign exchange reserves over $20 billion, a stable exchange rate, improvement in Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) after a period of two years, current account deficit under control, and positive signs of foreign direct investment.
“All economic indicators, except inflation, are positive,” the minister said.
On wheat and sugar stocks in the country, the meeting was informed that stocks were available to fulfill requirement, but prices in Sindh were on the higher side because the provincial government was not releasing wheat stock.
The meeting was informed that at present around five million tons of wheat was available in the country, and public and private sectors were importing wheat to meet the future requirements, and so far, the private sector had imported 430,000 tons of wheat, while preparations were under way to import 660,000 tons of more wheat.
The meeting was further informed that the public sector was importing 630,000 tons of wheat, and started the process to import 180,000 tons from Russia on government-to-government basis.
However, the minister said the government felt the need of wheat import due to climate change, and revealed that recent rains and floods had affected the cotton crop, and the government would be unable to achieve the target of cotton crop.
The federal cabinet was also given a briefing on the performance of the Pakistan International Airlines, and was told the its liabilities were over Rs400 billion but for the first time despite Covid-19, the gross revenue of the PIA in 2019 was Rs7.8 billion as its income witnessed an increase of 42.5 percent, and this happened after eight years.
The minister said that political situation was also discussed in the meeting, and added that the opposition’s narrative was close to the forces that wanted to destabilise the country. He said that everyone knew that India wanted Pakistan to be blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and the opposition was against the law country needed to approve to fulfill the FATF action plan.
APP adds: Shibli said, “The prime minister and cabinet members were concerned about the hike in food items' prices.
The situation is now better than when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government took charge with foreign reserves only enough to pay six weeks of import bill, Shibli said.
Shibli Faraz said the cabinet approved the security plan for the Chehlum of Imam Hussain (AS), which would be coordinated and implemented by the federal and provincial governments, armed forces and police.
The opposition will be holding public meetings only to save assets of few leaders, he remarked.
Shibli said Pakistan is a nuclear power, and has strong institutions and armed forces. The opposition is using different means to create chaos and economic instability in the country, he noted.
He said the foreign powers can easily manipulate Nawaz Sharif as he has assets abroad. On the other hand, Imran Khan has no business and does not have assets abroad so no pressure can be exerted on him by any international quarter, he added.
“We are not concerned about what the opposition is doing. We will continue to work for the benefit of the country,” he added.
The minister said PM Imran Khan is steadfastly advancing the cause of Islam, Pakistan and Kashmir.
In response to a question, he said “We are not distributing the certificates of treason.”
However, he said, the enemy and the opposition leaders are talking the same language.
He said even if a person was prime minister for “3,000 times,” he is not above the law and will be charged and convicted for committing crimes. Simple questions were asked from Nawaz Sharif as to how he had made the assets and sent the money abroad.
Imran Khan gave all the explanation about his assets and he was certified as honest by the court, he recalled.
Shibli said the previous rulers had looted the national wealth, and did not try to alleviate the poverty and resolve problems of the people.
The present government investigated the sugar crisis, which was created by powerful interest groups, he added.
To a question, he said the Federal Government wanted to develop the islands in the provinces and protect the coastal areas by bringing investment.
He assured that the government would continue to facilitate creation of new jobs as the economy thankfully kept on moving ahead despite the problems created by the COVID-19. In other countries, millions of people lost their jobs during the pandemic, he concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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