ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is gripped by a major economic crisis, with the rupee plummeting, inflation soaring and energy in short supply as International Monetary Fund officials visit to discuss a vital cash injection.
"We're at the end of the road. The government has to make the political case to the public for meeting these demands," former World Bank economist Abid Hasan told AFP. Day labourers, their tools laid out in front of them, wait for work that never comes along a road in Karachi. The IMF delegation will arrive on Tuesday to a nation in panic, still reeling fromThe world's fifth-biggest population has less than US$3.7 billion in the state bank - enough to cover just three weeks of imports.
"The number of beggars has increased and the number of labourers has decreased," said 55-year-old mason Zafar Iqbal, who was eating biryani from a plastic bag donated by a passer-by.At the petrol pump, a widow with her son said that every few hundred rupees of fuel for their motorcycle was precious, with the pair only eating two meals a day.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is battling severe energy shortages - with capacity drained by poor infrastructure and mismanagement - compounding the misery of businesses and citizens.because of a fault in the national grid that followed a cost-cutting measure.
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