Daily Times

LAHORE: Major opposition parties in the Punjab Assembly have showed their serious concern over the rising circular debt – currently standing at Rs 414 billion – and lashed out at the government for its poor financial policies and management. Mian Aslam Iqbal, a leader of the main opposition party in the House, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), expressed serious apprehension on the issue by saying that the country would compromise its growth rate and hit the people with prolonged power outages during the summer due to the rising circular debt. Talking to Daily Times on Wednesday, the PTI leader said that the debt had become a big and serious threat to economic survival, credit rating, and the overall image of the country. He said that such a thing needed immediate attention, as it could harm the economic growth of the country in the future. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) legislator Khuram Jahangir Wattoo, while commenting on the matter, said that increasing circular debt had reduced electricity generation by the private sector, consequently making the masses suffer in the summer due to prolonged blackouts. The PPP leader was also of the view that circular debt would hit the ability of the government institutions to buy fuel. He also said that alternative means of energy production would increase the cost of electricity by around 30 percent, so the small businessmen would experience a loss of no less than 50 percent in manufacturing their goods. Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Sardar Hasan Akhtar Moakal said that due to circular debt, investors would be pushed away, while it would hit industrial expansion and investment in the government’s energy projects. He further stated that due to increasing debt, exports of the country would reduce, while the cost of productions in different industries would increase; resultantly, a flood of inflation would come in Pakistan.