The Chinese president has postponed his visit to Pakistan due the ongoing political crisis. According to media reports Pakistan was hoping to sign $34 billion worth of deals during his visit. The country is already facing energy crisis and it needs huge investment to boost power generation to meet industrial and domestic needs, due to which the imports and exports of the country are badly suffering which in turn, according to government estimates, has caused over Rs600 billion loss due to the crisis. Not only this, but the Sri Lankan president has also delayed his visit due to the same reason.
Many important projects such as Thar coal project, LNG Terminal and its import, coal-based power projects with assistant from the Chinese and many other developments have come to a halt. According to a survey conducted by the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industries the business community has also suffered a major setback as almost half of the scheduled business meetings with overseas shareholders and regional management in Pakistan have been cancelled or postponed. The ongoing crisis has badly dented investor confidence, hurting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) prospects.
The political crisis is causing serious damage to the national economy. These marches are affecting the national economy and causing political unrest which will affect foreign investment and commencement of mega projects to further strengthen national economy. It is strongly advised that the economic and foreign relations should not be affected by political tussle. I request the government and protesters to get together and resolve their issues before any major setback happens. Let’s be patriotic about this and look at the bigger picture; the sit-ins are causing damage not only to the country’s economy but to its political and foreign relations. Suffering the worst is the ‘common man’. Isn’t he the one they’re (the government and the protesters) fighting for?
MAAZ ABBASI
Karachi