PMLN outperformed PTI on all fronts: Marriyum

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Monday released a chart highlighting the overall performance of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (2013-18) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (2018-22) governments.

The report claimed the PTI regime was marred by low economic growth, highest-ever inflation, extreme rise in unemployment, poverty, debt and corruption, decline in tax collection and surge in trade and fiscal deficits. The minister, in a statement, said in 2018 when the PMLN tenure had ended, dollar-rupee parity stood at Rs116 but when the PTI regime was removed through a vote of no-confidence one dollar was equal to Rs189. At the end of the PMLN tenure in 2018, she said, the GDP growth rate was at 6.1pc, but Imran brought it to negative which was now expected at 4pc. The inflation rate in 2018 was only 3.4pc which climbed to 13pc by the end of the PTI rule. Likewise, food inflation which was only 2.3pc in 2018, rose to 15pc by the end of the PTI tenure, she claimed.

Marriyum said a 20 kg bag of flour in Nawaz Sharif’s era was sold at Rs 700, while its rate jumped to Rs1,100 during the PTI government. Sugar, which was sold at Rs53 per kilogram in 2018, reached Rs90 after the end of the PTI tenure. She said the GDP-to-tax ratio was 11.2pc in 2018 whereas it fell to 9.2pc by April 2022. From 1947 to 2018, she said all governments put together obtained loans worth Rs 24,953 billion but the national debt rose to Rs 42,745 billion during the PTI tenure. There were 3.5 million unemployed persons in 2018, and in April 2022 there were 9.5 million unemployed persons which meant an increase of 6 million unemployed people in the PTI tenure. She said Pakistan’s rating in the Transparency International Index of corruption climbed 23 points during the PTI rule as it was 117 in 2018 and reached 140 by the time the PTI was removed.