ISLAMABAD: As if daily harangues by their chairman Imran Khan against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif weren`t enough, other leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf took the government to task at a press briefing on Wednesday over its `poor economic policies`.
`The government is using PTPs Azadi march as an excuse to cover its bad economic performance. Actually, it`s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his team who have miserably failed to deliver on the promises of putting the country on the economic recovery track,` MNA Asad Umar said.The member of the National Assembly from Islamabad and former head of a multinational company, challenged Senator Dar for a debate on the government`s fiscal policies which, he claimed, had been flawed from day one.
According to Mr Umar, even prior to the PTI`s protest movement, the government was performing poorly on the economic front.
`Within its first 14 months, there was a significant dip in the largescale manufacturing index from 138 to 112, five per cent decline in growth rate and three-fold increase in current account deficit to 1.4pc.
Because of the government`s sheer failure in curbing increasingcases of electricity and gas theft, it went for massive borrowing which resulted in the ballooning of national debt, he said.
`The present government has borrowed an unprecedented Rs2,415 billion within 14 months, adding to the earlier overall national debt of Rs13,800bn,` he said, adding that now every Pakistani had a debt of Rs88,000, an increase from Rs74,000 when the government took over.
Mr said the 78pc increase in electricity cost was the major cause of a slowdown in exports which over the past year had decreased by 11pc.
The imports have increased by 15pc.
On the government`s claim that it had suffered a loss of Rs500bnbecause of the continuing sit-in of the PTI, Mr Umar argued how a gathering restricted to D-Chowk could economically affect the country in such a big way.
`Whatever economic dent traders of Islamabad first received because of the metro bus project and now the continuous blocl
Mr Umar demanded that the government announce a special relief package for local traders.
He claimed that the PTI`s pressure had forced the government to provide relief to people and the government had lifted the ban on jobs and decreased fuel prices which haddropped in the international market from $108 per barrel to $971ong before the party`s protest movement.
Dr Arif Alvi said the standoff could be resolved if the government was interested.
`The government wrongly propagated that it had agreed to five and a half of our six demands, whereas actually it was unwilling to offer a meaningful election investigation, he said.
The party`s information secretary Dr Shireen Mazari said its leaders would give a detailed press briefing on Friday on the performance of the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.dropped in the international market from $108 per barrel to $971ong before the party`s protest movement.
Dr Arif Alvi said the standoff could be resolved if the government was interested.
`The government wrongly propagated that it had agreed to five and a half of our six demands, whereas actually it was unwilling to offer a meaningful election investigation, he said.
The party`s information secretary Dr Shireen Mazari said its leaders would give a detailed press briefing on Friday on the performance of the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.dropped in the international market from $108 per barrel to $971ong before the party`s protest movement.
Dr Arif Alvi said the standoff could be resolved if the government was interested.
`The government wrongly propagated that it had agreed to five and a half of our six demands, whereas actually it was unwilling to offer a meaningful election investigation, he said.
The party`s information secretary Dr Shireen Mazari said its leaders would give a detailed press briefing on Friday on the performance of the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
