The Pakistani Paper Association has warned that due to the paper crisis in the country, textbooks will not be available to students in the new academic year beginning August 2022.All Pakistan Paper Merchant Association, Pakistan Association of Printing Graphic Art Industry (PAPGAI), and other organizations related to the paper industry, and leading national economist Dr. Qaiser Bengali, speaking at a joint press conference. During the press conference they warned that due to the paper crisis, textbooks would not be available to students in the new academic year starting in August.
There is a huge paper crisis in the country, rising paper prices, high paper prices are rising day by day and publishers are unable to determine the number of books, reports local Pakistani media. As a result, the boards of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will not be able to print textbooks. Meanwhile, a Pakistani newspaper correspondent posed questions to “incompetent and failed” rulers asking them how to solve the economic crisis while the country was embroiled in a debt crisis.
Ayaz Amir, writing to Pakistani local newspaper Dunya Daily, said, “We have seen the laws of Ayub Khan (Former President of Pakistan), Yahiya Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. We have seen the governments of Pakistan dictators and all of them had one thing in common, they took out loans to solve problems and then took out extra loans to pay off their previous loans.” He said the endless cycle was still going on and now Pakistan has reached a point where no one is willing to lend to another country. “We were not able to solve our country’s economic problems when the population was 11 crores during the Zia ulHaq regime.
How will our incompetent and incompetent rulers improve the economy when the population has doubled to 22 crores?” he asked in his article, reports local media. At that time, China had entered into a difficult agreement with Pakistan when it comes to repaying loans and other investments in Pakistan. For the 2021-2022 financial years, Pakistan paid about USD 150 million in interest on China through the Chinese 4.5 billion Chinese trading finance center. For the 2019-2020 financial year, Pakistan has paid USD 120 million with interest on loans of USD 3 billion. China has been stepping up its efforts to repatriate money to Pakistan. Take Pakistan’s energy sector as an example, where Chinese investors repeatedly insist on solving problems related to existing project sponsors to attract new investment.
Some Chinese projects in Pakistan are facing difficulties in securing their mortgage loan in China due to Pakistan’s energy sector debt of USD14 billion. Although China is facing a debt crisis in Pakistan, it is the mismanagement of the Pakistani economy by successive governments; it has led to the current crisis.
Many loans taken from China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar as well as 13 loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 30 years (and many loan programs canceled due to failure to meet loan conditions), are a major cause of the economic downturn. 2019 USD 6 billion has also been suspended, and China has faced Pakistan’s usual requests for assistance. Surprisingly, Pakistan on the other hand is not ashamed to play a loan addict. The strategy has not paid dividends and has made Pakistan heavily in debt. Pakistan needs to take a closer look at what is happening in Sri Lanka, as it could be the next nation to face the consequences of bad economic policies and heavy debt.
