Mini-budget to open floodgates of inflation, price hike: Imran

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Khan further maintained that the only way out of the fiscal mess was fresh elections to bring in a public mandate and a government that the public trusted to make “difficult decisions.”

MPs up in arms against mini-budget: PTI dissident MNA Noor Alam Khan also expressed his reservations with the ‘mini-budget’ on the floor of the National Assembly, claiming that a hike in power tariff would be too much for the inflation-hit people. “Medicines have become expensive,” he lamented. “Those that once cost Rs15 medicine will now cost Rs100.”

Taking issue with the matter of power hikes, he further urged the house to “stop giving free units of electricity”, adding that “1,300 units of free electricity are given to officials” of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) while poor people are forced to pay bills. “WAPDA officers are being given huge salaries, cars, and numerous other benefits,” he said. “People are fed up with loadshedding while officers enjoy sitting in air-conditioned rooms.” He also lambasted the coalition government for claiming it would pardon debts. “Why they did not forgive the debts of the flood victims?” he questioned, adding that it was a gross injustice that only slogans were reserved for the poor. Furthermore, Noor called tax collectors “thieves” and declared: “If you tax people, you must give them some facilities as well.” Demanding that institutions and their spending be reined in, the lawmaker said: “Smuggling is carried out through green channels. We must look into where the Afghanistan dollars going.” For his part, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) MNA Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, while speaking on the floor of the house, criticised Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for travelling with protocol despite the PDM government’s cries for “simplicity.” However, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf interrupted him and said: “You cannot make speeches here, only discuss the point of objection.” debt relief”.

The Export-Import Bank of China has offered Sri Lanka a two-year moratorium on its debt and said it would support the country’s efforts to secure an IMF programme, which a Sri Lankan government source said was not enough.

The IMF, the World Bank and the United States have pushed for the so-called Common Framework – a G20 initiative that was launched in 2020 to help poor countries delay debt repayments – to be expanded to include middle-income countries but China has resisted.

In December, World Bank President David Malpass said the world’s poorest countries owed $62 billion in annual debt service to bilateral creditors, a year-on-year increase of 35%, triggering higher risk of defaults.

Int’l airlines ditch local travel agents to circumvent govt restrictions

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Both travel agents, who agreed to give their remarks on the guarantee of anonymity, gave us reassurances that they had access to the lower fares available on the website, and that we would not have to use our credit cards. They stated we could pay them in cash, bank transfer, and/or cheque, and they would then authorise the transactions through their branches in Australia or England.

What are the ramifications of Emirates

Airline and Turkish Airways?

“These are two very large, and important players. Their actions set a precedent for others to follow,” said one of the two travel agents. The travel agents’ views are pertinent, given that Turkish Airways, and Emirates jointly catered for 1.97 million passengers between July 2021, and June 2022, based on the latest available statistics provided by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority. Independently, Emirates was the largest foreign airlines, and Turkish the third largest foreign over the aforementioned time period.

“This will destroy travel agents in Pakistan. If the payments are being abroad, then what is the point of travel agents conducting their business here?,” says Rizvi. “What will likely happen is that those of us with big enough credit cards, will just provide access to our credit cards as a service then. The people basically just want a service, the government instead needs to engage in more concrete efforts with the airlines,” Rizvi continued.