PESHAWARL: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra said Sunday that Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had misled the nation about Pakistan’s impending default.
Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, he said the federal government had failed to stabilize the teetering economy and yet has the audacity to put all blames on the previous government.
Taimur Jhagra said that the value of Pakistan international bonds is falling and the US dollar is still worth Rs240 in the open market but it is astonishing that the federal government is claiming of improvement in national economy.
KP Minster of Higher education Kamran Bangash was also present on the occasion. Jhagra said Moody’s and Fitch are the most reliable and independent ratings institutions and both have revised Pakistan’s economy outlook as “negative.” Therefore, jhagra said, the international market does not trust Pakistan economy. He said there is record inflation in Pakistan since the coalition government came to power and people are paying through a very difficult situation.
The Finance Minister claimed that the IMF has alleged that the international monetary fund had lost trust in Pakistan’s economy. He maintained that foreign remittances are on decline as overseas Pakistanis use to send money through the open market instead of banks. “Instead of filing false cases against Imran Khan, the government should focus on the economy,” the minister said. “The imported government should take serious steps to restore trust and stabilize the country’s economy. The federal government is not taking effective steps because it will have to bear the brunt of it in the elections.”
Referring to the article of former finance minister, the provincial minister said that Miftah Ismail has highlighted the government’s failure while Gallup survey has unearthed the failure of the Pakistani economy. According to the survey, 88 percent of businessmen believe that the country’s economy is not going in the right direction.
The federal government is delaying the transfer of funds to the provinces, claiming that Shehbaz Sharif had not paid a single penny to his province Punjab for the flood relief activities forget about Pakhtunkhwa. “The Prime Minister refused to transfer the ten billion rupees he announced for floods relief in Pakhtunkhwa. The PM has announced a Rs100 billion subsidy on electricity for Punjab but after losing the government, the province’s funds were even stopped,” the Finance Minister said.
In response to a question that “why the provincial government discuss the issues with the federal government, the Finance Minister took the stand that Ishaq Dar’s office was approached several times but he was not ready to discuss and solve the issues faced by the province, therefore, it has been decided to submit a petition to the supreme Court to secure the province’s rights from the central government.
He said Political stability is essential for stability of the economy but such stability can be restored only through free and fair early general elections.
