On Friday, the Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said it is not IMF debt that brings countries out of the crisis but good leadership. If leadership is based on principles and the expenditure is equal to the income, then he said there is no question of a financial crisis in the country.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the number of countries that needed IMF support could be counted on the fingers, while around one hundred and seventy countries have never tried to seek IMF’s help.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that irresponsible countries empty the treasury through extravagant spending, losses of government institutions, electricity, gas theft, and elitism, and they ask for loans from institutions like the IMF.

Politicians invite such institutions to interfere in the country’s affairs for loans, after which they try to prove themselves innocent in the eyes of the people by complaining about the strict conditions.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that wrong economic philosophies first bankrupted Sri Lanka. Now it is the turn of other countries where politics is given priority over the economy due to which their economies have been destroyed. Poverty is increasing, with irresponsible leaders who face the risk of default are left with no option but to bow to every demand of the lenders. Tenders and the people have to bear the ire burden that has nothing to do with the wastage of funds and other related matters.

Mian Zahid Hussain further said that the weak countries are given a clear message in the negotiations that either accept all our conditions or declare bankruptcy as there is no third option.

According to the available data, from July 2018 to June 2022, the devaluing of the currency has increased the debt burden by Rs9712 billion while 2835 billion rupees has been added to debt servicing on account of interest payments.

Due to these two policies alone, the country’s debt and interest payments increased by 12548 billion rupees. During these four years, according to the dollar’s average value, the country’s debt has increased by 79 billion dollars without taking a single rupee as a loan.