LAHORE: (PR) “The PML-N government (which claims breaking the begging bowl) is blindly adding to the country’s debt. Pakistan’s total public debt has galloped to US $ 149 billion, of which foreign debt is over US $ 65 billion and domestic debt is about US $ 84 billion as of July 2014. This makes every Pakistani indebted to $ 825. The current Debt to GDP ratio is 64.27 %, violating the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act (FRDLA). This is bleak situation. The Nawaz government is constantly taking new loans and stealing from people’s pockets through imposing heavy taxes and billing in order to repay the IFIs and creditors. The government must stop blind borrowing, generate revenue through progressive taxation and set up debt audit commission to dig out illegitimate debts”.

These views were expressed by speakers at a press briefing, jointly organized by Institute for Social and Economic Justice (ISEJ) Campaign for Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM Pakistan) and Tax Justice Roundtable, in connection with Global Week of Action against IFIs (8-15 Oct 4) at Lahore Press Club, Wednesday.