ISLAMABAD: Former finance minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Shaukat Tarin Thursday said the agreement with International Monetary Fund (IMF) would not serve the interest of the public, as the government had accepting fund’s harsh conditions flatly refused by the PTI government.
Speaking at a news conference here, he said the PTI-led government took a bold step and rejected the IMF conditions of raising prices of electricity and petroleum products. Instead, it had a plan to manage the capital by increasing the tax base, he added.
He said that former prime minister Imran Khanwent to Pakistan’s friends and the IMF to rescue the country from economic mess, left by the previous government and successfully put the country on the road to economic growth.
Tarin said the economic team of the present government released statistics of the PTI government, clearly indicating that the economy was strengthening, while earlier they had refused to accept the reality.
He noted that PTI’s policies in the past two years enabled higher growth for two consecutive years and in the current year, the country posted 4.4 per cent growth in the agriculture sector and 7 per cent in the industrial sector.
However, he expressed surprise that when everything was running smooth and the country's economy was stabilising, dislodging the PTI government was beyond comprehension. Shaukat Tarin said that India and China were purchasing cheap oil from Russia, but the imported rulers were giving lame excuses to avoid a deal.
He said that during the PTI government, farmers were getting money and they became prosperous. Also, the growth of industry made industrial workers prosperous. Tarin said at that time Pakistan's exports went up to $32 billion, which had never been more than $24-25 billion.
Expressing concern, he said that the ‘imported’ government dropped petrol and diesel bombs on people as soon as they took over the country, increasing the price of petrol and diesel by Rs60/litre in one week and electricity by Rs7.5 per unit.
“We were asked by the IMF to increase the price of electricity by Rs4.95, but we did not agree. The imported government is lying in front of the IMF. The price of gas has been increased by 45pc, the bills of the lowest slab users of 100 units will increase by 75pc, the prices of ghee and flour have increased sharply and flour is also not available at utility stores.
“Downgrading of Pakistani banks would also affect the economy; inflation could reach 25 to 30 per cent in the country and the economic crisis could stop the wheel of the country’s industries, besides rendering thousands of workers jobless,” he feared.
He warned that the present government’s economic policy would lower the growth rate, as at present there was the worst load-shedding going on in the country, as the country is facing shortfall of 8,000 megawatts.