Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader and under resignation Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has criticised the previous government for taking too many loans during its tenure which resulted in amounting the figure to Rs 2400 billion. Talking to a private news channel he said the previous economic team changed the baseline of the economy, which changed the 27 percent volume of the economy without any reason.
Ishaq Dar criticised the past government for plundering national wealth, and held them responsible for the current price hike, higher petroleum prices, shortage of atta and electricity. Dar held three factors responsible for the current fiscal crisis which included external shocks, mismanagement and under budgeting. "The over-run of expenditures of Rs 522 billion demonstrates the biggest weakness of management", he added.
Pointing out the failure in policies of the previous government, Ishaq Dar gave the example of subsidy on oil and electricity saying the previous government allocated only Rs 15 billion for subsidy on oil prices for the whole fiscal year, but subsidy of Rs 155 billion is expected. Similarly Rs 52 billion were fixed for subsidy on electricity while the actual figure is expected to be Rs 125 billion.
Ishaq Dar said there was a dire need to change the policies and focus should be laid on promoting our agricultural sector as it would pay us in the long run and fulfil our requirements. He said the country was facing the acute shortage of electricity because the previous government did not generate even single megawatt of electricity and neither built any water reservoirs.