On Monday, Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said that the complete elimination of oil, gas, and electricity subsidies is necessary to save the country. The government’s decision to keep the oil price unchanged is a political move in the context of the current political situation in the country, which contradicts the ground realities, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that delaying unavoidable decisions is hurting the economy.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that if the oil price is to be maintained, time will be wasted by starting a new round of negotiations with the IMF on the 18th of May.

He said that the government needed to cut development and non-development expenditure and privatize the failed government agencies. At the same time, tax measures, including the reversal of several billion rupees of exemptions, were also required to increase revenue, without which the IMF would not be satisfied.

Mian Zahid Hussain further said that in the present situation, the government would not be able to take needed loans from commercial banks for a long time. If the troubled commercial banks refused to give more loans, economic catastrophe would be unavoidable.

Elimination of gas and electricity subsidies would increase inflation. Still, if the action were delayed, the economy would go bankrupt, and inflation would skyrocket while the country would fall victim to unrest and civil war.

To make unpopular decisions in these circumstances, the government has to stake its political future. This will only be possible if the coalition government has the full support of partners and influential circles to control law and order. If the necessary support is not forthcoming, the government will prefer to go for fresh elections instead of making difficult decisions.

It will prefer to leave tough decisions to the caretaker government, which will keep the country’s economy without direction.