Protests may cost economy Rs120b daily, claims Aurangzeb

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Sunday warned that long marches, sit-ins and strikes could cost Pakistan's economy around Rs120 billion a day, describing disruptions to economic activity as "self-inflicted pain" at a time when the country was trying to shift from economic stabilisation to sustained growth. The statement came after three groups, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Kissan Ittehad and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), announced plans for long marches in Islamabad in the coming week. The groups were protesting separate issues, with JI demanding the removal of the petroleum development levy, Kissan Ittehad seeking relief for farmers, and PTI calling for the release of party founder Imran Khan from jail. In a televised recorded message, Aurangzeb said the government had worked with the Planning Commission's economic wing to assess the potential impact of protests, road blockages and business closures, drawing on both previous experience and the country's current economic conditions. "If this economic stabilisation that we have achieved with great effort, difficult decisions and continuous efforts is disrupted by protests, sit-ins, road blockages and the closure of business and economic activities, what would the results be?" he said. Based on the assessment, he said such disruption could result in an estimated Rs120 billion loss per day, with the services sector expected to bear the largest share of the impact. "We estimate that there could be a loss of around Rs86 billion per day in the services sector", Aurangzeb said. The estimate covered financial services, communications, transport, retail, wholesale and hospitality. The industrial sector could suffer another Rs25 billion in daily losses, he said, with the estimate covering construction, finished goods, raw materials and supply chain-related activity. Agriculture could account for a further Rs9 billion a day in losses, including the impact on transportation, perishable goods, dairy, supply chains and agricultural trade.