Shehbaz lampoons govt over rising debt

Opposition Leader in National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that the country economic conditions were alarming, which could turn dangerous if the current government remained in power any more.

In a statement, Shehbaz said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) burdened the national economy with huge debt. He added that if the situation continued, the country would have to seek more debt for the payment salaries of the government employees, even running the government.

“This historic increase in the current account deficit will result in more borrowing in dollars,” the PML-N chief said. “If you don’t borrow dollars, the foreign exchange reserves will fall, sharply, which, in turn, will put national security at risk,” he added.

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Shehbaz charged that the government was “constantly lying” to the people that it was borrowing money to pay off debts of the past governments. “Facts and documents refute this lie of the PTI government,” he said. “All this debt is the result of the wrong decisions and wrong strategies of the PTI government.”

He was highly critical of the government over its agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He added that the current government agreed to two IMF conditions which were never accepted by the past governments – the State Bank of Pakistan Bill and the Supplementary Tax Laws Bill.