ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is facing serious balance of payment problems as the war on militants in troubled tribal areas is draining its resources partly because the United States has not reimbursed the committed $800 million Islamabad had spent on account of the war on terror.
Well-placed sources told Dawn on Tuesday that Pakistan has so far received two installments since March 2008 leaving a balance of over $800 million (Rs66 billion) under a program known as the Coalition Support Fund, the US military reimburses Pakistan for terrorism-related operations, particularly by the army and air force.
Pakistan received only $281 million in March 2008 followed by another installment of $364.7 million in September 2008 leaving a huge balance of amount Pakistan already spent from its kitty to sustain operation to combat militants in tribal and settled areas of the country, they added.
On average, operational cost of war on terror-related expenditures including sustainability of logistics and garrison in the federal tribal areas (Fata) was estimated to be over $1 billion per year. This cost was estimated, when the militants were combated only in the South and North Waziristan and adjacent areas.
Analysts said that though the country was not being hit hard by the international financial crisis as it had been anticipated by economists that the rising expenditures on the war on terror would inflict heavy losses on the country's ailing economy.
The cost of war has increased manifold in the wake of major military offensive against militants in Swat in November 2007 followed by other major operations in Bajaur and Kurrum agencies. Pakistan has deployed more than 100,000 troops in troubled areas.
A source in the finance ministry said that for generation of resources to reduce fiscal deficit due to one of this additional expenditure, the government has left with no option but to go for phasing out of subsidies on oil, gas and drastically cut the development expenditure.
The source said all these measures had multiplied miseries of poor people as the government was committed to stabilizing economic indicators. The advisor to prime minister on economic affairs Shaukat Tareen also recently admitted that the poverty in Pakistan increased to over 40 per cent from 28 per cent.
Independent economists said if the US government was not offering any financial support to bail out the ailing economy of Pakistan, Washington at least reimbursed the amount that Islamabad had already spent from its resources to reduce pressure on the balance of payment. But US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher in his recent visit also did not offer any possible assistance to help Pakistan avoid economic meltdown.
A senior military source told this scribe that the amount for reimbursement was calculated on the basis of six monthly reports. He said all the bills related to expenditure were first audited by a team of Pakistan military officers with Islamabad-based US embassy.
He said these bills were then sent to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Pentagon for further scrutiny of the bills and amounts spent. After clearance from these departments, it finally goes to the US State Department for release of funds.
"There was no delay in the payment of money till March 2008. However, the processes have been made more cumbersome to seek minute details about the expenditures. This normally takes more time,' the official disclosed.
According to the sources, Pakistan had already submitted details of the fund spent on the war on terror to the US authorities through its embassy in Islamabad.
A senior official told Dawn that the country had received $9.343 billion till December 2007 from the US under different accounts from 2001-02. Of this, $5.42 billion had been reimbursed to Pakistan on account of the war of terror, which was not assistance. Whereas an amount of $1.495 billion debt had been written off, he added.
Dawm
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