Pakistan finance minister's comments on country's development draw criticism
As the country grapples with an economic crisis, Pakistan finance minister Ishaq Dar s recent comments on the country's development have drawn criticism from different quarters. According to Dar, who was speaking about an event in Pakistan, his country was created in the name of Islam and that it is the responsibility of Allah to make it prosperous.
The senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz PML-N leader said he had full faith that Pakistan would progress because it was created in the name of Islam. The comment comes at a time in which Pakistan's weekly inflation has surpassed 31 per cent, onion prices have surged by more than 500 per cent and rice, pulses and wheat rates are up almost 50 per cent.
The minister said that Pakistan's progress is a result of Allah ke zimme, which means that the country's prosperity is God's responsibility.
Dar said that Pakistan was seeing such tough days due to the misdeeds of the previous government. He said that Pakistan's economy was going strong under Nawaz Sharif's leadership between the years 2013 and 2017. He said that the Pakistan Stock Exchange was the best capital market in South Asia and ranked fifth under Nawaz Sharif's tenure. During Nawaz's tenure, Pakistan was on the growth track but it was derailed, he said.
Dar said people can see the destruction the country has suffered in the last five years and know who has delivered in the past.
Netizens criticized the finance minister for failing to curb the economic crisis in the country after the comments drew criticism online.
Pakistan, which has been reeling under the devastating aftermath of the 2022 floods, is facing one of the worst crises since its independence. In January 2023, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif sought financial support from international communities, and said that Pakistan needed a huge sum of $30 billion to recover from the floods.
The international agency had refused to send a team to Pakistan to complete the review. The IMF said that it wants Pakistan to carry out more reforms and end subsidies, as the country is not able to afford the freebies.
The IMF has stated that Pakistan should do away with electric subsidies, connect gas prices to the international market, and free-floating dollars.
The Pakistani rupee touched its new low against the US dollar on Friday and closed at 262.6. The rupee was trading at 262.6 per dollar in the interbank market, down 2.7%, on Friday after a 9.61 per cent slump on Thursday, which was its biggest single-day dip, according to the central bank.
This was due to the news that an IMF team was visiting Islamabad next week to discuss unlocking a suspended bailout package.
Former finance minister Miftah Ismail told Geo TV that the unlocked funding from the IMF would help curbing the risk of Pakistan defaulting on its external obligations.