As the budget comes closer, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have started recriminating against each other over the country’s economy.
PML-N organized a pre-budget seminar on Thursday to shed light on the government’s economic policies.
Opposition leader in NA
PML-N President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly (NA) Shahbaz Sharif vituperated PTI’s growth claims and said unemployment increased massively during the past three years.
He added many people slipped below the poverty line and survival became hard for the common man.
The opposition leader said that questions have been raised on the budget and the figures of economic growth given by the government were wrong.
Former finance minister
Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the PTI government had played with the economy and raised the national debt by Rs 15,000 billion, adding that total loans stood at whopping Rs 45,000 billion.
He added Prime Minister Imran Khan takes donations from welfare trusts to run Langar Khanas.
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The former finance minister said that the fiscal deficit was above Rs 3,829 billion in 2019 and more than Rs 3,892 in 2020.
Miftah claimed that incumbent Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin also confessed that high-profit returns were ballooning debts.
He said that the PTI government devalued the local currency and increased exports by only 1%.
Former Punjab finance minister
PML-N Leader and former Treasury Minister of Punjab, Aisha Ghaus Pasha, said that Punjab superseded Sindh in development during their tenure.
She added that PTI was confused in preparing the budget. “They told us that the deficit will be 5.6% and quoted it 6% to IMF”, she added.
The ex-provincial minister said PML-N increased the education and health budget in Punjab by 500%.
She asserted that PTI had cut Punjab’s development budget by 23%.
Ayesha Ghous claimed that she increased the province’s development budget by 25% in 5 years.
She criticized that the incumbent government could not even copy their programs as it required intellect too.
Quoting Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data, the former minister said that not a single district in Punjab was in the less developed category when they were in power.
Muhammad Zubair – ex Sindh governor
Former Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair said PTI used to claim that it had 200 experts before assuming power.
He added that two finance ministers during three years of PTI belonged to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
“The same PPP Imran Khan used to chide on his container”, he remarked.
Muhammad Zubair said there was enough changing of players and it was high time to change the captain.
PML-N leader Khurram Dastagir
PML-N leader Khurram Dastgir brought one-kilogram packets of flour, sugar, ghee, and pulse and placed the items over the podium.
He said that the prices of all four essential items had doubled during the past three years of the PTI government.
He added that the rates of medicines shot up by 500%, forcing the poor to discontinue treatment or cut half consumption of drugs.
Former planning minister
Former Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that Imran Khan should understand that the current account deficit wasn’t the measure of the economy.
He criticized that the PTI government could not even construct service areas along roads and motorways built by PML-N.
He added that the incumbent government foiled the environment of investment and slowed down China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Ex-prime minister Khaqan Abbasi
Addressing the budget seminar, former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that Prime Minister Imran Khan did not know A,B,C of the economy.
He told the circular debt was the net loss that is supposed to be repaid one day or another.
He recalled that the circular debt stood at Rs 1,150 billion during PML-N’s tenure and it has doubled to Rs 2,150 billion.
The ex-premier warned that it would reach Rs 3,000 billion if it continued to grow at the same pace which will have a direct impact on the masses.
He said the rate of electricity for tube wells has gone up from Rs 5 to Rs 12 per unit.
Shahid Khaqan said that the government’s revenue was more than Rs 300 billion but the circular debt was still growing at a rate of 600 billion.
The power tariff has gone up by 62% and the biggest reason behind it was the government’s incompetence, he expressed.
The ex-premier highlighted that Pakistan’s GDP reduced by Rs 19 billion during the past three years.
“This is the reality of the country and this is not our figures but official data”, he said.
Shahid Khaqan told five million people have lost their jobs in Pakistan, additionally, 8% population went below the poverty line.
Government’s finance team rebuts
Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin blamed former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for destroying the country’s economy.
The minister said that IMF did unfair with Pakistan by taking the interest rate to 13.25% which further increased the debt burden by Rs 1,300 billion.
However, he held PML-N responsible for it, contending the incumbent government had to borrow from the international lender to pay off loans taken by the previous government.
Criticizing the previous government, the finance minister said that the economic growth was shown 5.8% in 2018 after borrowing loans.
The PTI government is taking care of the economy wreaked havoc by Ishaq Dar, Tarin added.
Shaukat Tarin assured that the government would not acquiesce to IMF’s proposal to impose new taxes or hike electricity prices.
The finance minister told that Pakistan encountered a historic current account deficit of $20 billion as the local currency was kept artificially stable.
He added that the circular debt was going down and the government would take measures to reduce it more.
Energy Minister Hammad Azhar also addressed a virtual press conference and admitted inflation in the country.
However, he vowed that the growth rate would stay around 4% this year.
He added that the economy is on the path of recovery while the foreign reserves were surging as well.