PTI Chairman and former premier Imran Khan on Thursday censured the ruling coalition government for the unprecedented price hike of commodities, saying people will now come to know the “real pain of inflation”.
He made these remarks while expressing his views on the country’s economic situation after the government unveiled the Pakistan Economic Survey 2021-22.
He admitted that the rates of daily-use items increased in his government but said the PTI “withstood the IMF pressure”.
The PTI chief criticised the incumbent regime asking why it “hatched a conspiracy” to oust his party from power when it was not ready to deal with Pakistan’s economic crisis.
"If they (government) were not ready to economically stabilise the country, then what was the point of carrying out a conspiracy and ousting the government? he questioned.
"If they are unable to take care of the country, of inflation and the economy, what was the hurry? You could have prepared and waited, the government had only a year-and-a-half remaining."
Imran recalled that the PML-N would denounce them for not controlling the price of products but noted that inflation during the present government had risen three times.
“In our government, the price of a 20kg bag was Rs1,200 but now it’s Rs1,500,” he said, adding that the dollar had reached Rs202 mark which would have “greater effect on everything”.
“The stock market is plummeting. I am afraid how an average household will meet their budget.”
The PTI chairman observed that obtaining loans from foreign countries had now become cumbersome and that Moody’s had lowered Pakistan’s outlook from stable to negative.
“Now the people will feel the real pain of inflation,” he said.
The PTI chief claimed that after the Musharraf’s era Pakistan was “rapidly progressing” during the PTI government.
Referring to the PML-N and PPP, Imran said that those who had been in power for the last three decades had not taken any measures for the country’s development.
“Those in government today have not built dams in 30 years. There is a dire need of water resources and today farmers are not getting water for their crops. The dam projects [initiated by PTI government] are in jeopardy today,” he said.
“[During the PTI tenure] the agriculture sector grew by 4.4 per cent and the cultivators got more money. We collected a tax of Rs6,100 billion and now the situation is that load-shedding has increased because of the incompetence of the present government,” he added.
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