ISLAMABAD: The opposition leaders on Saturday criticised the government’s announcement of the country’s expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which it estimated to remain 3.94 percent during the fiscal year 2020-21.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, in a series of tweets, said the country’s growth rate was 5.8 percent during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) tenure but now the premier is claiming a mere 3.9 percent growth rate.
“An SBP (State Bank of Pakistan) representative objected to the figure being overstated. PTI, in its first year, had increased the original figure from 1.9pc to 3.3pc. This year too, they lied,” he said.
The PML-N president said that independent economists had predicted a decline in real incomes for Pakistanis this year. “Therefore, the growth rate — put forward by PTI — this year is also unrealistic, which will be lower when it will be reviewed.”
Shahbaz said every week since February 5, prices have been showing a 13 percent increase. “Prices have increased by 17pc this week compared to last year,” he tweeted.
The PML-N president said middle-class households had faced a severe setback as the inflation rate was so high that the food prices had witnessed an increase of 14 percent. “Imran is running the country only for his friends,” he alleged.
The PTI has left five million people unemployed and 20 million in extreme poverty, he said, adding, “In a successful economy, inflation is low, employment is high, the government plans schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. Where does our economy stand?”
Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the PTI-led government has a unique talent in being “absolutely shameless when it boldly and brazenly misleads the people”.
The federal government has, since its first day in office, been fudging numbers and stacking statistics in their favour, Bilawal said in a statement.
“Fudging economic figures may feed the large egos in the government, but it does not feed the people. These alleged facts and figures are tantamount to gaslighting the lived experience of the people who are being crushed under the economic failures of Imran Khan,” he said.
The PPP chairman claimed that since the PTI formed government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa nearly a decade ago, poverty levels had increased exponentially, with figures showing that poverty has gone up from 9 percent to a whopping 27 percent.
In contrast, under PPP, the province of Sindh had managed to slash the poverty rate by 7.6 percent, he further claimed. He added that the PPP government in Sindh has also overseen “Sindh’s rise in per capita income”, with the province now “leading in both rural and urban figures”.
“Despite soul crushing inflation and rapidly increasing poverty levels, the PTI-led federal government is preparing to levy taxes on the pensions of the retired employees,” he said.
Bilawal said that PPP is determined to protect the rights of pensioners and that it rejects any scheme that would seek to tax them. The proposed 10 percent tax on pensions in the next budget would only push people further to the brink.
“The powers that foisted an incredibly inept government and prime minister on the country have done a great disservice to the country and its future,” he added.
Govt.’s claim that growth has jumped from 0.5 to 4 percent might only fools pathans- the brainless clan.