Next mandated govt to continue policies initiated by caretakers: Dar

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader and former finance minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said that the next elected government would carry forward the policies initiated by the caretaker setup as the general elections are scheduled to be held at the end of January next year in the country. 

Last month, following a meeting of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva with Interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, she hoped that the upcoming mandated government would carry on the economic plan of the previous governments. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly's session in New York.

On June 30, Pakistan and the IMF reached a long-awaited staff-level agreement (SLA) on a $3 billion “stand-by arrangement” (SBA), the global lender announced. The $3 billion funding, spread over nine months, is higher than expected for Pakistan.

During an interaction with journalists in Islamabad today, the PML-N finance czar — while responding to a question about the Elections (Amendment) Act 2023 — said that the law granted the caretakers powers to make decisions on economy, downsizing, public-private partnership and other issues.

No country can limit the role of caretaker setup to just marking attendance for 6-7 months, he added.

To another query, the ex-finance minister said that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif will move to court seeking bail ahead of homecoming.

Responding to another question, Dar said that currently dollar’s real value is Rs250.

“Pakistan was moving forward on the path of progress in 2017 [when Nawaz stepped down as the prime minister of Pakistan after being disqualified from holding public office by the Supreme Court in a landmark decision on the Panama Papers case.]”

Announcing its verdict, the apex court's five-member bench unanimously disqualified Nawaz for failing to disclose his un-withdrawn receivables constituting assets from UAE-based Capital FZE in his nomination papers for the 2013 General Election, stating that this meant he was not ‘honest’ and ‘truthful’, as per the Constitution.

“Due to the Panama drama, Pakistan’s economy dropped to 47th slot in the world,” he added. The PML-N leader stressed the need for joint efforts to take the country forward.