ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former finance minister Asad Umar on Sunday claimed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had returned “empty-handed” from foreign trips seeking to secure financial support as no country was willing to offer support to the incumbent government.
In his presser today, Asad Umar said: “No countries including China, Saudi Arabia, UAE — even the International Monetary Fund — are giving money to Pakistan.”
He quoted experts as saying that the situation in Pakistan was bleak and it was just “weeks away from a Sri Lanka-like situation”.
The ex-minister claimed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was “clueless” and did not have the courage to take decisions. “Finance Minister Miftah Ismail is looking at Shehbaz, who is looking at Ishaq Dar, who is reliant on Nawaz Sharif, while the convicted former PM, in turn, is hopelessly looking at Zardari… and the cycle goes on.”
He claimed Zardari was “enjoying” the current situation the most in which PM Shehbaz is completely “helpless”.
Umar also spoke at length about the PTI’s economic record. He predicted the growth rate could go as high as 6 percent this year, saying it was due to the steps taken by his government in the last two years to revive the economy.
“This will be for the first time after 15 years that economic growth is above 5pc for two consecutive years,” the PTI leader said, adding that the no-confidence motion had “hampered” economic progress.
He underlined the reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan declined by 37pc after the no-confidence motion against the PTI government succeeded.
Umar said that the industrial sector never witnessed a growth of up to 7pc since 2005, however, “the current year is the second consecutive year where our industrial growth rate stands at 10pc”.
Similarly, he said, energy production increased by 10pc during the PTI government’s tenure.
He recounted a statement Miftah Ismail made several months ago wherein he had warned the PTI regime of an opposition protest if the price of petrol would be raised from Rs137 per litre. “Miftah Ismail must keep in mind his statement before taking any further decision on the petrol price,” said the PTI leader.
He insisted that no one has confidence in the government’s affirmation that it would complete its tenure. “No investor is believing this.”
A day earlier, another PTI leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain also claimed that the USA, Saudi Arabia, and other countries had refused to support Shehbaz Sharif’s government because of growing public support for Imran Khan after his ouster from the government.
PM Shehbaz and members of his cabinet had embarked on their first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia since coming to power. During his three-day visit, he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other officials.
A Joint statement at the conclusion of the trip said the two countries agreed to discuss extending the term of a $3 billion loan to help Pakistan’s new government tide over the prevailing economic crisis.
PM Shehbaz later went to the UAE, following which a joint statement said the two countries expressed their desire to strengthen “bilateral economic cooperation”.
