%20(1).png)
'If the IMF pact is not resurrected, Pakistan's economy would collapse.' The Financial Times in the United Kingdom has warned that Pakistan's economy is in danger of collapsing due to the government's "failure to renew" an International Monetary Fund (IMF) pact.
Rolling blackouts and a severe foreign cash scarcity, according to the study, make it impossible for firms to maintain operations.
Shipping containers full of imports are building up at ports as purchasers are unable to get the funds to pay for them, according to the report.
"Airline and foreign company associations have complained that capital limits implemented to preserve diminishing foreign reserves have prevented them from repatriating funds. Officials stated that firms such as textile producers were shutting or shortening their hours to save energy and resources. The challenges were exacerbated by a statewide outage that lasted more than 12 hours on Monday," according to the UK publication.
"A lot of sectors have already stopped down, and if those industries don't reopen quickly, some of the losses will be irreversible," said Sakib Sherani, founder of Macro Economic Insights.
According to the Financial Times, quoting analysts, Pakistan's economic condition is "becoming unsustainable," and if the scenario maintains, the country would be in a similar predicament to Sri Lanka. The magazine further stated that if the "crisis" continues, the government may default in May.
"Now, every day counts. "It's simply not apparent what the route out is," said Abid Hasan, a former World Bank adviser. "Even if they get a billion [dollars] to roll over... things are so awful that it'll be a Band-Aid at best."
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told the Financial Times that the nation has "dramatically" curtailed imports in order to save money.
"There would be rioting in the streets if we just agree with the IMF's conditions," Iqbal said.
"We need a staggered schedule... The shock or cost of a front-loaded programme cannot be absorbed by the economy or society."
