ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail on Tuesday lamented that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had adversely damaged the country’s economy and piled up public debt to the level of Rs6400 billion during its tenure.
Addressing a press conference along with other PML-N leaders Musaddiq Malik
and Muhammad Zubair, he said that the PTI has made people to suffer by taking the economy to this bad condition.
Miftah said that the fiscal deficit is hovering at around Rs5600 billion and if supplementary grants of Rs800 billion is included, the total amount would reach to Rs6400 billion.
He elaborated how the illogical decisions by the previous government has resulted in increasing overall debt.
He, however, expressed the hope that future of Pakistan is brighter under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He said all possible efforts would be made to contain the deficit, adding that it is their responsibility to lead the country towards a better future.
The PML-N leader, who is expected to become Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, also criticised the PTI government over providing relief package of Rs370 billion, under which the former prime minister Imran Khan had announced to reduce the petroleum prices by Rs10 per liter and electricity by Rs5 per unit.
To a question, he said the government has not decided yet to increase the petroleum prices but the decision would be taken after reviewing the summary issued by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA).
When asked whether the current government would take measures to reduce the
inflation rate in the country, Miftah pointed out that the government cannot control inflation immediately due to bad policies of the previous government.
“First we will negotiate with the IMF to convince them to ease out the tough conditions so that the government could provide relief to the masses,” he added.
He said Pakistan’s imports have also reached record high level due to which the country’s current account deficit is expected to reach near the $20 billion mark by end of current fiscal year.
The PML-N leader said in last month alone, the country’s foreign exchange reserves were declined by around $5 billion.
He expressed satisfaction over the announcement of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for increasing minimum wages to Rs2500. He said the measure would provide relief to the people caught in the inflationary pressure.
He said that by enhancing the pay by 10 per cent of those having less than Rs100,000 monthly salary would also help people get relief. He asked the private companies including the media houses to increase the salaries of their employees by 10 per cent.
Miftah said that increase of 10 per cent in the pensions would help reduce burden on old pensioners and it would have a fiscal impact of Rs13 billion in next three months of current fiscal year.
