- Says state institutions can be destroyed very quickly but restoring them takes time
DAVOS, January 23: Prime Minister Imran Khan, referring to the current economic struggles of Pakistan and government initiatives to better the overall situation said reforms are a process while addressing a breakfast meet with the Pakistani community on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Elaborating on the country’s economy, the prime minister said high-interest rates on debt and non-functional state institutions means Pakistan has to go through difficult times. “Reform is a painful process. Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.”
“We are up against a corrupt status quo that ruled Pakistan for 30 years. They are estranged and have links to people who benefitted from a corrupt system. Our biggest challenge is facing these people spreading gloom and doom every day. Every day a scandal is blown up – all of it is orchestrated. Basically, they do not want the government to succeed because that would lead them to jails – and some of them already are.”
He said the first thing corrupt people do is destroy state institutions because that’s the only way to make money. “State institutions can be destroyed very quickly but restoring them takes time,” said the prime minister.
“We discovered that out of the 370 people working in the health ministry, only 15 had the relevant educational background,” he said replying to a question. “All government corporations are loaded with these people. If you have three persons for one job, none of them will work. Unfortunately, when we bring changes, we are slapped with stay orders.”
Imran said the second problem Pakistan faced was accumulated debts by the previous governments. “Out of the Rs4 trillion tax we collected in our first year of power, Rs3 trillion went to debt services. How do you fund health, education etc with that?”
The biggest challenge, he continued, is the circular debt in the energy sector. “Every year we have huge interests payments on this debt. We cannot put more burden on the consumers.”
Elaborating on tough economic policies, Imran said his government was focusing on export-led growth. “People are hurting in Pakistan.”
“I have never received so much abuse or been hammered by the media as I have in the past one and a half years,” he said. “Being in the public eye for 40 years, I am used to criticism but this one and a half year has been exceptional. I have had to develop a thick skin.”
“Because I know the dynamics of bad times, I know the first thing to do is to not read the newspapers,” he quipped. “Do not, whatever happens, do not watch the evening chat shows.”
Imran said he tries to get his cabinet members to do the same but “they watch the chat shows and come shell-shocked in the meetings,” he joked.
Imran said the positive trend was being reflected as deficit was down by 75 per cent, the rupee was stabilising and the stock market was regaining losses. “The direction is right but there is struggle ahead.”
The prime minister said Pakistan’s best resource was its human force. “We have dynamic people,” he said and recalled how the Pakistan cricket team would regularly thrash India.
“Our under-financed hockey always wins. We do not just have talent, we have resources as well.”
PM Imran said he was amazed to see the untapped potential of the country’s resources. “Chairman of a foreign company we are in litigation against,” he said referring to the Tethyan Copper Company in the Reko Diq mines case. “told me that the profit of just two blocks is over $100 billion. I did not know that.”
“We have cold reserves of coal – we should never have shortage of electricity.”
PM Imran said the basics fo progress – research – was neglected in Pakistan. “We did not spend money on human resource or education.” He further lamented that education became a concern only for a small elite portion of the populace.
“Around 800,000 children go to English-medium schools while 3.3 million go to Urdu-medium and 2.5 million go to madrassahs.”
Imran said his vision for Pakistan was of inclusive development. He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government aimed to promote industrialisation to make money that would be spent on the bottom tier of the society.
Imran said despite limited resources, the government had allotted Rs190 billion to its ambitious poverty alleviation programme, the Ehsaas Programme led by Dr Sania Nishtar.
Despite tough economic decisions, PM Imran said he hoped the Ehsaas Programme could provide a safety net to the bottom tier.
Replying to another question, PM Imran said overseas Pakistanis were the country’s best resource. He said Reza Baqir, Abdul Razzak Dawood, Tania Aidrus were among those who had returned to Pakistan to serve the country.
The premier also drew parallels between Pakistan and Malaysia and said both countries are trying to emerge from years of corrupt governance.
Imran is close to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad and has on various occasions praised him. Agencies
