No party could have presented better budget amid current economic conditions: Ahsan

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said in an interview that no other political party could have presented a better budget keeping in mind the present conditions of Pakistan. The current economic conditions have forced the government to prepare a budget that best fits the resource situation. The government was left with no other choice.

He said the economic downfall that started after 2018 has led the country to its current situation. The federal government’s net revenue was 7,000 billion rupees, while 8,000 billion rupees were needed to repay loans. He emphasized the severe economic difficulties inherited from the previous government, noting that an additional 1,000 billion rupees had to be borrowed to repay debts, resulting in a budget heavily reliant on loans.

Ahsan Iqbal said that in 2018, the CPEC projects lost their momentum due to which Pakistan’s development projects being done in collaboration with Chinese support suffered immensely. The country is knee deep in inflation because the PTI government was busy making political enemies. The leaders were made victim of false allegations and propaganda due to which the state machinery lost its ability to make effective decisions.

All important decisions of the state were sidelined the PTI government. The projects on which work was started in CPEC became unnecessarily delayed and Chinese investors lost their confidence and trust in our stability.

The minister also said that the interim government’s accountability chief Shahzad Akbar and former minister Fawad Chaudhry had maligned him, Rana Sanaullah, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Miftah Ismail by making false allegations. This propaganda was spread by PTI workers to change the mind of masses. The narrative was the PMLN is looting the country and the country was badly polarized as a result. Seeds of hatred and polarization were sown which stunted the ability of masses to think without bias. He further said that recently during WEF in Davos, world leaders were asked about the biggest challenges that the world was facing today. Collectively, all leaders named disinformation as the greatest challenge. Today, PTI leaders cannot name any substantive achievements made during their four-year tenure. But on social media all they show is nothing but their crazy antics. Future politics will have to be based on truth and performance, not baseless accusations. He further said the PTI government also killed Vision 2025 by sabotaging it. They could not even present any alternate vision to follow during their tenure. The minister said that for the next five years, the government has prepared the 5Es Framework, a cornerstone of the National Economic Transformation Plan. “The fate of our country is in our hands. We have to maintain an equilibrium of development and ensure policy stability.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the visit to China saw that Chinese people were keen on accelerating CPEC phase 2, he added.