PTI has put economy on ventilator: Sherry

ISLAMABAD: PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman said the PTI government is running on a borrowed time as in the last three years of it have been a story of incompetence, serial mismanagement and rampant corruption.

“The PTI government has failed to curb soaring debt, inflation and unemployment, as no true relief has been provided to the people while the Pakistani rupee continues to devalue at an alarming rate,” she said while giving a detailed view on economy in a talk to the scribe on Thursday.

Senator Sherry Rehman said the last three years of this government have been disastrous, as the whirlwind of economic policies that have been implemented have resulted in a perfect storm of multiple economic disasters; the government has willfully put the economy on the ventilator due to regressive taxes and triggered an inflationary spiral.

She was of the view that all economic factors point towards a failure in governance, be it the $5.107 billion trade deficit or the falling Pakistani rupee which is now at 176.65 and is putting immense pressure on the current account deficit.

She said the dangerous double-digit inflation rate now stands at a whopping 11.5%, haunting the public that is already exhausted from unemployment and poverty. “Whether it is the record-breaking debt, extortionate petrol prices, perilous trade deficit or the plunging value of the PKR; our economy is on a ventilator,” she said.

Condemning the surging inflation rate, she said due to the constant inflation bombs, Pakistanis are forced to choose between gas for heat during the winter, education for their children, food on their plates or petrol for the bikes. “Now, the inflation rate has surged to a shocking 11.5% from 9.2%, which is the highest recorded increase in the past 21 months while food inflation is at an abysmal 11.2% compared to 10.8% last month,” she said. The PPP vice-president said public misery is becoming immeasurable and the government’s moot responses leave much to be desired.