Foreign minister says Pakistan in ‘perfect storm’ of crises’
The Hindu
Pakistan’s foreign minister says his country is facing “a perfect storm” of troubles — an economic crisis, the consequences of catastrophic flooding and terrorism “that is once again rearing its ugly head” as a result of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan
Pakistan’s foreign minister said Thursday his country is facing “a perfect storm” of troubles — an economic crisis, the consequences of catastrophic flooding, and terrorism “that is once again rearing its ugly head” as a result of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the 34-year-old son of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press that Pakistan, like other countries, is also beset by “hyper-partisan and hyper-polarized politics.”
Discussing his cash-strapped country's crushing need for financial help, he sharply criticized the International Monetary Fund, which last month delayed a $6 billion bailout over Pakistan failing to meet terms of a 2019 deal. The government blames that failure on former Prime Minister Imran Khan, now the opposition leader.
The IMF gave new instructions to Pakistan to raise and collect taxes as well as slash subsidies without burdening poor people, government officials said.
Mr. Zardari said his party supports expanding revenue collection and believes those who are well off should pay more, but he said Pakistan has been unable to achieve structural tax reform “for the last 23 IMF programs that we have been a part of.”
“Is it really the time to nitpick about our tax policy and tax collection while we’re suffering from a climate catastrophe of this scale?” he said.
The IMF is not being fair to Pakistan, which is also dealing with 100,000 new refugees following the West’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and “a steady uptick of terrorist activities within our country,” Mr. Zardari said.