Pakistan Reader# 409, 19 November 2022
On 18 November, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar met President Arif Alvi and discussed the plans of the government to provide relief and support to the people that are suffering from unusual inflationary rates in the country. According to a press release issued by the presidency, Dar and President Alvi spoke of the overall economic and financial conditions of the country, where Dar briefed the president on the various alleviation measures the government took to provide relief to the people of the country, specifically those that are most vulnerable and the flood affected masses. The meeting allegedly also entailed the impending appointment of the new chief of army staff, which was not confirmed by both side. This comes as Dar had indicated that Pakistan had overcome the US’s opposition to the country’s purchase of Russian oil and emphasised that Pakistan “intended to enter” the fuel import deal with Russia shortly.
The meeting laid out the financial liabilities that Pakistan has been facing since September 2022, where PTI leader Fawad Chaudhary said that the country’s total debt had increased nearly 24 per cent, which is PKR62.5 trillion at the end of the month. On 17 November, Imran Khan expressed his worries regarding the default risk rate of the country, which had increased substantially since his government was ousted. Fawad Chaudhry, however, condemned the growing amount of debt in the country and said that the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) figure bulletin could not be “solved” by either political parties, and said that the “country’s destiny has been placed in the hands of international financial institutions and global powers.” (“Finance minister briefs ‘straight-faced’ President Alvi on govt economic plan,” Dawn, 19 November 2022)
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