Chairman of National Business Group of FPCCI, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday welcomed Pakistan’s re-entry to the $6bn IMF programme.

He said the development would improve the confidence of the developed world and international institutions, but it would be costly.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that reforms are underway for decades, but the focus is not on national development but to please the lenders.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the IMF directives had damaged the economy and masses before the pandemic. It is feared that with the new development, the groups will have to face a new round of inflation, unemployment and business closures.

He said that the economy and masses could not withstand the harsh IMF conditions, including cutting developmental spending, reducing subsidies, increasing taxes, and hiking power and gas tariffs, which will stoke poverty.

The so-called reforms will push many businesses into the loss. Many would-be closed, while withdrawal of corporate tax exemptions to the tune of Rs140 billion will hit confidence and new investments, he observed.

He noted that the IMF has never pushed Pakistan to reduce inefficiency and corruption in essential institutions, but it has always targeted the poor.

The move to make SPB independent is said to help the economy and the poor, but the fact remains that it will increase the burden on the masses and taxpayers.

He said that long-term gains should never be compromised for short-term benefits.