Punjab govt borrowing like there’s no tomorrow

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‘Breaking the bowl’, so goes the slogan of the Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif. In public he sermonizes about “ridding the province of foreign aid and loans”. He harangues the federal government for sloshing too much through borrowing too much. But under him the province is said to have acquired loans to the tune of Rs 80 billion – and this is not overdraft from the federal government, it is just the foreign borrowings. And it too squanders them on populist measures. A case in point: The World Bank’s fund meant to support the poor get primary education was diverted to distribute laptops to college and university students – most of these to the relatively well-heeled.
There is another anomaly. The province has been unable to fully utilize development funds owing to gross inefficiency. Since the incumbent dispensation took the reins, every year, year after year, tens of billions of rupees have lapsed owing to remaining unutilized. This borrowing binge while the available funds remain unused is indeed is a contradiction that both the finance managers and their political masters would find hard to explain. Sources privy to the goings-on divulged to Pakistan Today that politicians have scant understanding of complicated financial matters, leaving the finance managers to rule the roost. But even this sorry excuse cannot absolve the politicians for not being on top of complex financial matters for which eventually the people suffer.

15 COMMENTS

  1. Commission,emissions,party contractors,street vote,obliging, every thing is coverer in multipurpose projects,some serve the purpose of bribing the campaigning touts.

  2. If you look personal business history of Sharifs, they have always borrowed and never repaid. When banks stopped lending to Ittefaq Foundry, it closed. There are so many other examples. So, I will not be surprised if they leave Punjab under debts eternally.

  3. These looters from raiwind are under serious threat of elimination from imran khan and massive borrowing is going on only to counter Khan at any cost.
    Shareef brothers are no better than zardari, two sides of the same coin. They have looted, they are looting and they will continue to loot the wealth of this nation until people rise to the occasion and elect a better person like Imran Khan.

  4. better person who has a team of old corrupt rats…like jamatia Javed Hashmi, and Shah Mehmood..Are these really against status quo

  5. It is one man show. He has got 5000 cc engine brain to handle all the problems of the province. Are the Shariffs and their family borne to rule. Let there be change in the province.

  6. Commission,emissions,party contractors,street vote,obliging, every thing is coverer in multipurpose projects,some serve the purpose of bribing the campaigning touts.

  7. punjab govt would the only govt of the world which thinks education can be improved by laptops, while in govt schools, colleges and universities even dont have proper class rooms, lacking furniture and clean water like basic facilities…. i have also studied in govt school and college, none of the school has its own buses for facilitating the students to reached school at time and convinently and easily……

  8. It is very strange that NAB is not taking any action against Sharif Brothers. NAB can do it on their own. It is very unfortunate that right now we have looters as rulers in the province of Punjab. They never speak truth.

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