Islamabad. April 9 (APP): Prime Minister's Coordinator for Energy and Economy Bilal Azhar Kayani has said that Imran Khan cannot fix the economy through theft, incompetence, mismanagement and breaking the law and the constitution. The responsibility for the disaster lies with Imran Khan and his economic team, despite the 78% increase in debt in four years, Imran Khan cannot see a single brick of development, PML-N will lead the country to the path of development again.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, he said that for the past few days, Imran Khan and his economic experts have been making big claims about the national economy. Apart from subverting the constitution and putting the law on the tip of the shoe, it does not flatter him to once again present his CV to the public in the way he has destroyed the economy. The responsibility for the current inflation and economic disaster lies with Imran Khan and his economic team. When Imran Khan was imposed in 2018, the growth rate was 6.1 percent, inflation was 4 percent, and food inflation was 3 percent less. Under the package, development projects were underway across the country, 12,000 MW of electricity was added to the national grid.
The program with the IMF was completed, the country was put on the path of sustainable development, operations like Zarb Azb and Radal al-Fasaad were carried out which improved the peace and security environment, the country was brought out of darkness, the revenue doubled. , employment was provided to more than 60 lakh people. But when Imran Khan was imposed, constant inflation continued for 4 years. Imran Khan's four finance ministers ruined the country's economy, in four years 2 crore people went below the poverty line, 60 lakh became unemployed. The deal with the IMF was done in a sham way, putting the entire burden on the people. He said that during the period of Imran Khan, the loans have increased by 78%, in four years this loan went from 25 to 44 thousand billion rupees, but despite this, they cannot see even a single brick of development.
He said that Nawaz Sharif's name is on any symbol of development and Imran Khan's name is on every symbol of destruction and destruction. He said that the boldness with which they are making these claims is their forgetfulness that people will forget it, four major deficits were made in four years, negative growth rate of revenue for the first time in the history of the country, after 1952. For the first time, the GDP went negative during Imran Khan's tenure.
The revolving debt went from 11 hundred to 2400 billion, the revolving debt of the gas sector was taken to 1400 billion, when the government of Imran Khan ended, the current account deficit was 17 billion dollars while the foreign exchange reserves were at a low level. The country was left on the brink of bankruptcy.
He said that Asad Umar was the poster boy of Imran Khan's economy. He spent the first few months only in presentations, he used to say that he would commit suicide but would not go to the IMF. After that Hafeez Sheikh came and he went to IMF and in the agreement with him the entire burden was put on the people of Pakistan, the then finance secretary opposed the agreement and he was removed. After Hafeez Sheikh, Hammad Azhar and then Shaukat Tareen were made Finance Ministers. The current inflation has been imposed by Shaukat Tareen on the direction of Khan Sahib.
Bilal Azhar Kayani said that in November 2021, the Imran Khan government made an agreement with the IMF to implement the petroleum development levy because the targets were not being met, but after a few months when he left power, he broke this promise and All this was done, without telling the IMF, at a time when the current account deficit was at its highest level and foreign exchange reserves at their lowest level.
The termination of the agreement with the IMF brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy and was ready to dissolve the assembly even on lies like Cypher. Imran Khan can go to any extent for the chair. He said that Imran Khan and his associates cannot be absolved of economic ruin. At the time of Covid, Pakistan was getting LNG at $4 but Imran Khan rejected this offer to please his Furnace Oil lobbies. That LNG is not even available at $35 now.
Under Imran Khan, Pakistan became an importer of flour and sugar, first allowing wheat and sugar to be exported to fill the pockets of its ATMs and later importing these goods at double cost. Imran Khan is talking about making Shaukat Tareen the finance minister twice. He said that the current government has established an atmosphere of trust with the IMF. When Imran Khan found out that matters were being settled with the IMF and the country was avoiding becoming Sri Lanka, he directed Shaukat Tareen to contact the Finance Ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and write letters to the IMF. went to sabotage the program with the IMF. The present government is restoring relations with the friendly countries that Imran Khan damaged, we have staked our politics to save the state.
The prime minister's liaison officer said that the country has been saved from bankruptcy, but our economic problems have not eased. There is going to be an agreement with the IMF for which all the steps are complete, the present government has not burdened the economically weaker sections even in difficult situations, the budget of BISP has been increased to 400 billion rupees in the supplementary financial bill. has been given. Free flour scheme has been launched. Bilal Azhar Kayani has said that despite serious economic challenges, the economic future of the country is bright, the current government saved the country from bankruptcy and put the economy on the path of stability.
In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, the current account deficit has decreased by 68 percent and the trade deficit by 36 percent compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year. Fiscal deficit is 2.8 percent of GDP as against 4.5 percent in the same period last year. The primary surplus is 0.9 percent as compared to 0.6 percent of GDP last year. The situation will improve after the agreement with the IMF. He said that ban on imports is not good but it is necessary to do so to meet external obligations, these bans are temporary and ban will be lifted after improvement in foreign exchange reserves situation.
He said that the slowdown in gross national product is not unique to Pakistan, it is a global phenomenon. The Russia-Ukraine war and the decision to raise interest rates in the US have created a slowdown in GDP globally. Apart from this, the last year's worst floods have also damaged Pakistan's economy. Dealing with external challenges and improving the global economy will have an impact on Pakistan's economy as well. To a question, he said that Imran Khan is not the solution to the economic problems of the country, the economy cannot be improved by theft, incompetence and violation of the constitution.
Muslim League will lead the new country on the path of development again. To a question, he said that elections should be held, but they should be clean and transparent. Clean and transparent elections are the responsibility of the Election Commission. When the current government takes over, going to the elections at that time would have given us political benefit, but it would harm the country. was suffering, so we did not care about our politics and took difficult decisions to get the country out of trouble.
The news is published by EMEA Tribune & Associated Press of Pakistan
