LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly (NA) Shehbaz Sharif criticised the government on rising inflation and said it should quit instead of playing with the nation’s future by imposing a mini-budget.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the opposition leader said the trade deficit in December exceeding $5billion is a reflection of economic devastation.
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Shehbaz noted that the deficit has gone beyond $20bilion during the first five months of the ongoing fiscal year 2021-2022 (FY22). He said that the record increase in the trade deficit is a result of the historic imbalance between imports and exports.
He said the dollar has crossed 180-mark against the rupee and inflation is rising. “Now each dollar is equal to Rs180; inflation is increasing by the day, which is not a good sign for the country,” he said in his statement.
Shehbaz said, “The country, instead of moving forward, is going backward. The economy is in reverse gear.” He added that 17 per cent additional general sales tax (GST) on different items will increase the price hike.
“Elsewhere in the world, the GST is slashed to keep inflation at bay but here, unfortunately, the opposite was the case,” the opposition leader lamented.
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Shehbaz said that the adviser on finance is giving contradictory statements about inflation too. Pakistan is sometimes tagged as the cheapest country in the world and simultaneously, the global economic conditions are blamed for inflation, he added.
He reiterated that the government should quit instead of imposing a mini-budget and playing with the nation’s future.
