PM working day in day out to reform institutions: Dar

LAHORE: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Sunday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was working day and night to bring reforms in national institutions while the economy would soon be restored under his leadership.

He expressed these views while talking to the media on the occasion of participating in the urs celebrations of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh.

He said when the country’s economy was taking off, obstacles were created. “May Almighty Allah not let this happen this time; let us make Pakistan an economically prestigious country in the world,” he prayed. Provincial Food Minister Bilal Yasin and others were also present.

The deputy PM said he had already served the country as the finance minister, and this time he had been assigned many responsibilities.

He said there was no doubt that Pakistan had suffered a lot economically during the past years, adding that “it was being predicted that the country would take 15 years to come out of the severe crises. But with the grace of Allah, it took only three-and-a-half years for Pakistan to come out of the crises.”

In 2013, the country was experiencing up to 18 hours load-shedding, and dozens of terrorist incidents were taking place daily, affecting the economy badly.

But, the PML-N government solved all those problems in just three-and-a-half years with the grace of Allah, and the load-shedding issues were also resolved. It was admitted by major forums, and it was said that the way Pakistan was developing, it would soon join the G20.

But after that, in the next four years, Pakistan was ranked at the 47th position economically and it was not a small loss, the problems of the country today are due to that duration.

Ishaq Dar said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, “we are making all-out efforts to restore economy and create ease for Pakistanis again”.

He said 14 rupees per unit relief in electricity bills had been given by the provincial government to the people of Punjab, and the prime minister allocated Rs. 50 billion subsidy to electricity users of up to 200 units, with the approval of the cabinet.