ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman on Wednesday held the former government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) squarely responsible for the country’s mounting debt and the public accounts crisis.

Speaking in the National Assembly which is debating the Finance Bill, 2022-23, Sherry who is also federal minister for climate change in the coalition regime, said the previous government used every opportunity it could get to make promises which cost the country an unprecedented crisis in public finances, depleted foreign reserves, fiscal imbalance, runaway inflation, plummeting rupee, and an economy that was perilously near default.

“The PTI tied us to the worst IMF agreement and then broke that agreement, leaving Pakistan doubly exposed to both the entire multilateral financial system, loss of sovereign credibility, and at home the crippling burden of spiraling prices in a landscape of extreme irresponsibility where no LNG was ordered nor plan made for the unfunded subsidies they doled out to gain political mileage for their gains at the expense of Pakistan,” she alleged.

“The current government is having to take austerity measures and restart talks with the IMF for a bailout. The Budget FY 22-23 might be called the “IMF Budget,” but the choice is to let the country be and watch it reach complete bankruptcy like Sri Lanka is now facing or take difficult but necessary actions,” she claimed.

Taking part in the budget debate, the lawmakers belonging to the ruling coalition said Pakistan would regain the confidence of international financial institutions after the incumbent government took corrective measures in the Federal Budget, 2022-23 to improve the economy.

Faqir Ahmed of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said the national economy would progress in a sustainable way after the budget approval from the house.

Once the budget is passed, he said financial institutions like the IMF would be extending more cooperation to Pakistan, and the health of the ailing national economy would improve.

He stressed the need for all institutions’ full support to the government in the execution of its fiscal plan to steer the country out of the financial crisis.

He stressed the need for providing improved health and education facilities across the country, saying provision of free medicines and transport to patients in the public sector hospitals and make education compulsory for all children up to the matric level.

He said once the agriculture sector was considered the backbone of the national economy and the country was self-sufficient in almost all major crops, but now there were the challenges of food security and Pakistan was importing various products.

He said there were a number of research institutes to improve the agriculture sector, but it was unfortunate that not even a single new seed had been introduced since long.

Waheed Alam of the PML-N said the party leadership was taking tough decisions to revive the national economy that was badly ruined by the PTI government.

He criticized the PTI for adopting wrong economic policies and signing unrealistic agreements with the IMF, which were major reasons behind the prevailing situation of inflation in the country.

He said the size of cultivable land was decreasing in the country due to certain reasons and ensuring maximum incentives to the farming community aimed at tackling confronted food security challenges.

Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali of Jamaat-e-Islami called for an immediate arrest of elements involved in carrying out terrorist activities and the killers of four social activists in North Waziristan.

Saira Bano of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) said the House was discussing the next fiscal plan and there should be maximum presence of lawmakers and their active participation in the parliamentary proceedings.

Armaghan Subhani of the PML-N said the supply of fertilizers should be ensured to the farmers. He said legislation should also be introduced to deal with the issue of counterfeit pesticides.

Dr Shazia Sobia of the PPP said that corruption was carried out by the previous government in the health sector including in funds of the Covid-19 which needs to be investigated.

Azhar Qayyum of the PML-N said the government presented a balanced budget in difficult times and efforts are being made to put minimum burden on the common man.

He said the government was working with good intent, expressing the confidence that Pakistan would come out of the difficult economic situation.

At the outset, Abu Bakar, who won the recent by-election in NA-240, on the MQM-P ticket, took an oath as member of the National Assembly.

NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf administered oath to him.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022