Govt sacrificed economy at IMF’s altar, says Bilawal

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) fiscal decisions, saying incompetent rulers have ruined the lives of the masses and the ruling party has sacrificed the economic rights of the people at the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) altar.

Addressing party workers at the residence of PPP leader Azizur Rehman Chan here on Sunday, Bilawal said “incompetent rulers cannot run the country and economy” and the situation in the country was worsening.

The PPP chairman said the government had increased the burden of inflation on the public, adding the PTI had given “nothing but unemployment and inflation” to the people.

Attacking the IMF bailout package, Bilawal said the PTI deal with IMF “is against the people of Pakistan”. He added: “The PPP always strikes deals for the benefit of the people.”

The PPP chairman said the economic policies of the PTI and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) completely differed from the PPP, adding that the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s government had also not spent on the needy. “We want to bring [back] poor-friendly policies,” he said. Whenever the PTI or PML-N introduced any bailout packages, Bilawal said, they are “always for the rich” and they think that it “trickles down will benefit people”. “But it only makes the rich richer and poor poorer,” he added. In contrast, the PPP always brings relief packages for the lower strata of society, he said.