On Friday, the Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, All Karachi Industrial Alliance and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said the IMF had trapped the country.

Every coming day will increase the problems of the people already facing severe inflation while money budgets will frequent the government.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the country’s prestige and sovereignty had been compromised while the economy was ruined for one billion dollars.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that people would not get any relief for years to come as developmental schemes will take a severe blow after agreement with the IMF. At the same time, the price of everything will skyrocket.

A country that can earn six billion dollars in four months from textile exports has reduced the currency’s value by 14 percent and allowed a massive increase in the price of everything, including electricity, petrol and gas, for a meagre loan which is beyond comprehension, he observed.                                                                      

The veteran business leader said that the so-called economic experts had pushed the country, which has great potential, to the wall and now borrowing is the only option to survive and repay debts.

He said that policymakers made wrong decisions for decades, incompetent bureaucrats played havoc with the country, and authorities are putting the burden of taxes on the masses, saving the elite from all obligations that had brought the country to the brink of disaster.

Those who matter are ready to discredit their country in the world, but they are not prepared to force the elite to discharge their obligations by paying taxes.

He noted that evading taxes in Pakistan has always been a better option than paying taxes due to their high ratio, which is now being increased under the dictates of the IMF.

The aristocracy is ready to make the country face embarrassment for a loan of one billion dollars, but they would not pay taxes. In comparison, the government will continue to pump four billion dollars annually to run the failed state-run companies for political benefits, he said. 

He said that state-run corporations should be privatized without delay to save four billion dollars annually.