Pakistan Army Chief General Munir steps in to address economic crisis in cash-strapped country

Pointing to the key role of the powerful army in Pakistan, Army Chief General Asim Munir has held a series of meetings with the business community, pledging all-out efforts to attract billions of dollars worth of foreign investment to the troubled country. liquidity.

General Munir held a marathon four-hour meeting on Saturday with some 50 prominent businessmen including Zubair Motiwala, Chairman of the Businessmen Group (BMG), Tariq Yousuf, Chairman of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, Chairman of the Federation. of the Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).

The meeting followed a strike by shopkeepers on Saturday to protest the rising cost of living, including rising fuel and utility bills and the record depreciation of the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar.

The army chief updated the business community on his recent visit to Saudi Arabia, saying Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman assured him that he would invest $25 billion in Pakistan under the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC). acronym in English), the Sunrise the newspaper reported on Tuesday.

At the same meeting, General Munir also “assured the businessmen that on their next visit they will bring investments of between 25,000 and 30,000 million dollars from Qatar and Kuwait.” In a separate report on the Geo News website, FPCCI Chairman Sheikh said the army chief had told the business community that Saudi Arabia had secured investments in IT, minerals, agriculture and defense for Pakistan.

‘COAS Munir requested that $10 billion be kept in the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). This will be paid back in the form of Pakistani rupees or goods so that foreign exchange can rise,” Sheikh said.

The army chief said he was confident the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) would “remove bureaucratic hurdles”, which were identified by the Saudi Crown Prince as obstacles to investment.

Motiwala was reported to have said that even when each new Pakistani army chief meets with merchants, “the body language of the army chief was different this time compared to the merchant meetings held with his predecessors. General Munir went to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to revive the economy, and now he plans to go to Qatar and Kuwait.” Interestingly, citing sources, the media also reported that General Munir had also hinted that he would not go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for any new programs as “the fund does not give any permission to work freely and an increase in energy rates”. part of the program.” The powerful army, commonly known as the establishment, has ruled Pakistan directly for almost half of its history since partition in 1947. For the rest of the half, it called the shots from behind the scenes, controlling the country’s politics.

Although the Pakistani military has repeatedly said that it would not interfere in the country’s politics, its influence in state affairs remains evident. Lately he has been participating in the financial decision-making process and dealing directly with the IMF and other key allies of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the army chief assured the Lahore business community that he would encourage transparency in the dollar exchange and interbank rates, according to another report in the Dawn newspaper.

“Currency exchanges would come under the purview of taxes, promoting transparency in dollar exchange and interbank rates,” COAS said at the meeting held at the Corps headquarters in Lahore.

He Sunrise The report quoted a spokesman for Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Chairman Kashif Anwar who, acknowledging the critical role of exchange rates in Pakistan’s economic landscape, called for “more control over the US dollar rates in both interbank and financial markets”. open markets”.

In response, General Munir assured the business community that he would bring money exchanges under the purview of taxes, encouraging transparency in the dollar exchange and interbank rates, according to the media report.