ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Hammad Azhar on Thursday accused the government of planning to “abandon” the ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in case of early elections in the country and warned it would be disastrous if there is any truth in it.
Speaking at a presser, he said: “We’ve heard this on social media and if it is true [abandoning talks with the IMF in case of early elections], the prime minister and the finance minister must come on television and clarify this to the nation about the agreement with the IMF and the economy."
He continued that if it is true – to abandon the talks with IMF in case of early polls in the country – there could be no other betrayal with the country as “you are putting the whole economy of the country at stake for petty political gains”.
PKR fall to set off huge economic ‘crisis’: PTI
He reiterated his party’s call of holding early elections to steer the country out of the prevailing economic and political crises, adding the rulers who had no mandate of the people have miserably failed from all fronts.
He said that the country coped with all the challenges i.e. natural calamities, two wars, sanctions, and a coronavirus pandemic but the damage done to the country due to the installation of the “imported regime” of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has damaged the country to the point of no return.
About the continued downward spiral of rupees vis-à-vis the dollar, he said that the rupee lost its value by 62 percent during the last 11 months and plunged to a new all-time low of Rs310 against the dollar in the open market.
He said that the non-seriousness of the imported regime was evident from the fact that State Minister for Finance Aisha Ghaus Pasha had embarked upon a three-week leave, while Ishaq Dar could not face the nation about the economic crisis as he has nothing to say about the PDM-inflicted economic catastrophe.
He said that due to the freefall of the value of the rupee against the dollar, it increased the public debt alone to Rs14.3 trillion, besides declining foreign remittances by $800 million per month.
He said that the time has come that Ishaq Dar must go, as either he should resign himself or he should be sacked immediately for the sake of the economic security of the country.
Responding to Maryam Nawaz, he said: “Didn’t Miftah Ismail [the ex-finance minister of the PDM] tell you that he negotiated this extension of the IMF programme in September 2022 just before you fired him”.
“Your samdi Dar has been postponing the IMF review since October last year while the economy was bleeding. Sit down and get tuition on the subject,” he said, while addressing Maryam Nawaz about her recent outburst against the PTI. He said that the gravity of the situation could be judged from the fact that global rating agency Moody’s changed Pakistan’s status from stable to negative, which the lowest rating was given to countries nearing default, as Sri Lanka was given the same rating before it defaulted.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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