Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said PTI’s presentation of selective and misrepresented economic indicators is an attempt to mislead the citizens of Pakistan.
Talking to media, along with other federal ministers, in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said the comparisons are factually incorrect and devoid of economic context.
The Finance Minister said the economic situation since April last year is strongly influenced by PTI’s mismanagement of the economy in last four years and its negative effects continue to impact the economy even now.
He said it ignores the impact of difficult international economic situation caused by commodity super cycle, Russia-Ukraine War and one of the biggest natural catastrophe 2022 floods in Pakistan.
Talking about growth, the Finance Minister said investment as a percent of GDP was higher during PML-N government as compared to PTI tenure. He said the confidence of investors and their sentiments were much better during PML-N tenure than in PTI tenure.
Regarding price hike, Ishaq Dar said inflation rate during the PML-N Government was 8.6 percent to 2.9 percent while in PTI tenure, maximum inflation index reached 12.2 percent and minimum stood at 6.8 percent. He said the government is taking policy, administrative and relief measures to control inflation.
The Finance Minister said despite global economic meltdown and internal devastating flood situation, value added sectors are showing positive and satisfactory growth. He said the government initiative like Kisaan Package, industrial support package and exports facilitation measures helped revival of activities in industrial and agriculture sectors.
About relief measures, Ishaq Dar said budgetary allocation of BISP has been increased to 364 billion rupees and the government has planned to expand the scope of BISP and increase the number of beneficiaries up to 10 million.
He said the government has also included 500,000 more people from Balochistan in BISP, which would cover around 65 percent of the population of the province.
He further said that the coalition government had to increase fuel prices to honor the commitments made by the PTI to IMF
The country was brought back from the brink of default through import management, resurrection of the IMF programme and reduction in current account deficit. He said friendly countries have announced their support which will help manage forex reserves in the country.
Responding to a question, the Finance Minister ruled out any threat of default and expressed the confidence that the country will successfully steer out from the current economic situation.
