Finance Minister Miftah Ismail
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Friday hit back at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, accusing him of entering into a “flawed” deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that had resulted in rampant inflation and currency devaluation.
“If we get out of the clutches of the agreement Imran Khan inked with the IMF, then the rate of the dollar will come down,” he said in statement issued on Friday. “Reviving the economy that Imran Khan left is not an easy task,” he said, adding that the fuel subsidy announced by the ousted prime minister had placed great strain on the national economy.
“There has been a loss of Rs. 120 billion this month [due to the subsidy] and no government can bear such a huge deficit,” he said, stressing that the Khan’s subsidy made it very difficult to stabilize the economy, as petrol prices globally were far higher than those in Pakistan.
“If the government gives subsidies without having money, then it has to take more loans, increasing the interest rates, and putting pressure on the rupee,” he explained, noting that the incumbent government did not want to follow the path of Khan who had taken the “biggest loan in the country’s history during his tenure, which was 80% of the total debt of 71 years.”
Khan borrowed Rs. 20,000 billion during his tenure, he said. The PTI-led government left Rs. 10.4 billion in the foreign exchange reserves, which are equivalent to 45 days of imports, he added. “The foreign exchange reserves should be double this amount,” he said and regretted that the PTI chairman’s policies had also damaged Islamabad’s ties with foreign nations such as China and Saudi Arabia.
Praising the incumbent coalition government, the finance minister said the rupee’s value had soared and the stock exchange increased by 1,700 points after Shehbaz Sharif became the prime minister. “We left the growth rate at 5.8 percent during the Nawaz Sharif-led government and inflation at a low of 3.4 percent. We will get out of this mess and the stock exchange will go up once again,” he vowed and said Khan would have to answer for his crimes before the nation.
The Pakistani rupee has been continuously declining against the U.S. dollar for the past week, hitting a historical low of Rs. 193 in the inter-bank market on Friday. In a series of posts on Twitter, the ousted prime minister highlighted the current economic situation and claimed it reflected “lowest-ever confidence in imported government.” He added, while referring to the security establishment: “Market awaiting policy and action, which imported government has failed to provide. Both myself and Shaukat Tarin had warned the “neutrals” that if conspiracy succeeded our fragile economic recovery would go into a tailspin. That is what has now happened.”