LAHORE: Terming the country’s economic condition as alarming, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that the PTI government had made the national economy as debt economy.

Holding the PTI government’s wrong policies responsible for the destruction of economy, he lamented that the government was trying to dictate the IMF’s conditions to the parliament.

“If the present government stays in power, from the next year the government will have to borrow for the payment of defence, pension and other expenditures to run its affairs,” he feared.

Due to surge in the current account deficit, we would have to take loan in dollars; if we do not take loans in dollars, our foreign reserves will start receding which will put our national security at jeopardy, he opined.

He claimed that the government was lying with the people that it was taking loans for repayment of the debt of the previous government; the economic experts have revealed the truth otherwise and documents are negating the PTI government narrative, he added.

The PTI government had to take loans due to its wrong economic policies, flawed decisions and battered state of economy, Shehbaz said. He said the $55.5 trillion foreign debt spoke volume that the economy was in shambles. Due to the inept and corrupt policies of Imran Niazi’s government, the country was heading to a “dead end” with every passing day, he opined.

The PML-N leader maintained that the national economy has been turned into a debt economy owing to wrong economic decisions pertaining to appreciating the value of dollar, reducing the national income, economic inertia and hike in the policy rate.

‘With an increase in the growth rate, our economy had started reviving but the agreement with the IMF proved fatal, he said, adding: “The government has railroaded some legislations from the parliament in compliance with the IMF conditions and the State Bank Act and supplementary tax laws bill were part of it.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021