Economic meltdown shows Sharifs only expertise is ‘money laundering’: Imran

Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan has said that the prevailing economic crisis has exposed that the Sharif family “never had any expertise in running economy or administration”.

In a tweet from his official handle on Tuesday, Imran said when the ‘regime change conspiracy’ was hatched to topple his government via a vote of no confidence in April this year, the rupee stood at Rs178 against the US dollar.

“Today it is Rs224 & in freefall despite IMF agreement. The economic meltdown shows Sharifs never had any expertise in running economy or administration. Their only expertise is looting, money laundering & getting NROs,” he added.

The PTI chief said the nation will hold accountable all those responsible for “regime change conspiracy and bringing Pakistan to this sorry state of affairs”.

His statement comes as the Pakistani rupee hit an all-time low on Tuesday against the US dollar, reaching Rs222 in the interbank market despite an announcement by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding the resumption of the multibillion-dollar loan programme.

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The local currency continued its downward trend today and depreciated further by Rs6.90 against the greenback.

The rupee had nosedived Rs4.25, or 1.97%, against the US dollar in the interbank market on Monday.

Ratings agency Fitch earlier today revised its outlook on Pakistan to negative from stable, citing a deterioration in the country's external liquidity position and financing conditions as well as the risks from renewed political volatility.

Fitch, however, affirmed the country’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency (LTFC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at "B-".

The IMF board was likely to approve a resumption in bailout payments, it said, but added there were considerable risks to the programme's implementation and to Pakistan's access to external finances after June 2023.

Moody's, another ratings agency, also changed Pakistan's outlook to negative from stable on June 2.