Imran says rupee slaughtered in 11 months

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in a tweet on Thursday said, “Rupee slaughtered — lost over 62% or 110/$ in 11 months of PDM. This has increased public debt alone Rs14.3 trn [trillion] & historic 75 yr high inflation 31.5%.”

He added that Pakistanis are “paying [a] heavy price of regime change conspiracy where a bunch of criminals have been foisted upon nation by ex COAS.”

Earlier, PTI leader and former finance minister Hammad Azhar Thursday said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement government was the worst-ever disaster unleashed on the country.

Speaking to a news conference, he squarely blamed what he tagged as the imported government for bringing the ‘fast thriving economy’ to its knees, claiming that it could be mathematically proved that the PDM government was the worst disaster to have ever happened to Pakistan in its history.

Hammad said that Pakistan had fought wars, faced devastating floods, destructive earthquakes, sanctions and coronavirus epidemic but still PDM’s disaster was on top of all these.

Pakistan, he pointed out, was currently passing through the worst economic catastrophe, but the ‘imported prime minister’ and the cabinet were not ready to talk about the deteriorating economic situation of the country.

Moreover, he noted that it was inevitable to get rid of Ishaq Dar, as either he should resign himself or he should be sacked immediately for the sake of economic security of the country. “He has destroyed the economy even before.”

Azhar blamed the government for the continued downward slide of rupee vis-a-vis dollar and said that the rupee lost its value by 62 percent during the last 11 months and plunged to a new all-time low of Rs310 against dollar in the open market.

The non-seriousness of the government, he noted, was evident from the fact that Minister of State Ayesha Ghaus Pasha was on three weeks leave, while the finance minister could not face the nation amid the economic catastrophe which, he alleged, these thieves had inflicted on the country.

He said that due to the freefall of the value of rupee against dollar, it increased the public debt alone by Rs14.3 trillion, besides declining foreign remittances by $800 million per month.

Hammad said that it could be easily proven statistically that the PDM government brought economic disaster due to which neither the world financial institutions nor the friendly countries could trust this “fascist government anymore”.

The former minister insisted that the country was in dire need of a new and fresh public mandate to surmount these challenges.

Coming down hard on senior PMLN leader Maryam Nawaz, he reminded her, “Did Miftah not tell you that he negotiated this extension of IMF programme in September 2022 just before you fired him? Your relative Dar has been postponing the IMF review since October while the economy was bleeding. Sit down and get tuition on the subject.”

The PTI leader argued that the gravity of the situation could be judged from the fact that global rating agency Moody’s changed Pakistan’s status from stable to negative, which was the lowest rating given to the countries nearing default as Sri Lanka was given the same rating before default. “Credit of the downgrade rating goes to the imported government and its flawed economic policies,” he added.

Hammad said that Pakistan was paying Rs5,500 billion only in interest. He pleaded that the rulers should have some mercy on the nation and resign to save the country from further destruction. He continued that the rulers used the state institutions for their vested interests as they were scared of Imran Khan’s popularity.

“If Shaukat Tarin was declared a traitor, then what are Dar and Shehbaz now?” he asked, adding that the imported government was endangering the country for its dirty politics.

Hammad said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan has formed a legal team to get the detained party leaders released.