Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) President and Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif claimed on Sunday that the government’s talks with International Monetary Fund (IMF) have failed.

In a statement, Shehbaz said that the ruling party dropped the ‘inflation bomb’ even before starting dialogues with the IMF, yet the international lending agency asked the government to 'do more.'

“The government accepted all the conditions of the IMF beforehand, yet the negotiations failed,” he said, questioning the government's economic policy that, according to him, will lead millions to unemployment and abject poverty.

US Chargé d’affaires meets Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz in Lahore

The opposition leader condemned the increased prices of petrol, and electricity, and urged the government to reverse the cruel decision.

Earlier on Saturday, the PML-N president criticised the PTI government for “eating into the vitals of the bond between the state and its citizens by instilling widespread despair due to its incompetence.”

He termed the recent surge in inflation as a mini-budget, which he believed will bring the national economy to a grinding halt.

“The PTI presented a fraudulent budget and lied to the entire nation and the world. If this government is allowed to stay in power. Imposition of 17pc sales tax on exempt items and increase in petrol and electricity prices is terrorism against the people and national economy,” Shehbaz said.

He said he had no words to describe the extreme cruelty this incumbent government had inflicted on the people in the form of yet another increase in the prices of items of daily use. These latest hikes along with the massive increase in petrol prices will push people to the brink of starvation.