Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has said that if you had listened to me in 2017, you would not have had to carry a kashkol for 5 years.
Addressing overseas Pakistanis in New York, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said that in 2017, Pakistan had become the 24th largest economy in the world, but after that the country reached the brink of bankruptcy. He said that despite the complexities of the political situation, Pakistan was saved from bankruptcy.
Referring to the improvement in the economy, he said that the inflation rate in Pakistan has decreased, the policy rate has decreased and there are visible signs of economic stability. Before the 2013 elections, Pakistan was considered a country suffering from economic instability, but we won the elections and improved the economic indicators in just 3 years.
Ishaq Dar further said that between 2013 and 2017, the inflation rate had come down to 3.6 percent, the interest rate had come down to 5 percent and load shedding had been eliminated. He said that peace was restored in the country through heavy spending against terrorism, Karachi’s lights returned as a result of Operation Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad and for the first time, Pakistan had also successfully completed the IMF program.
In his address, he said that at that time, international financial institutions were praising Pakistan’s economy, to the point that Pakistan was predicted to join the G20 countries by 2030, however, with the change of government in 2018 and the subsequent years, the country’s economy weakened to 47th place and came close to bankruptcy.
Ishaq Dar said that when the PDM government took power in 2022, political interests had to be put aside to save the country from bankruptcy. If his advice had been followed in 2017, Pakistan would not have had to face these difficulties.
He added that when he got another chance in 2023, the economy was led towards stability, the inflation rate decreased to 6.4 percent, the interest rate decreased from 22 percent to 12 percent, foreign exchange reserves and exports increased. Now international institutions are again appreciating the improvement of Pakistan’s economy.
The Deputy Prime Minister, while talking about the issue of terrorism, said that in 2014, huge financial resources were provided to eliminate terrorism, as a result of which the country was safe, however, now terrorism is resurging and this is due to lack of continuity in policies. The previous government made agreements with terrorist groups, due to which people involved in serious crimes were released and as a result, instability arose in the country.
He said that the government in the country is not a monopoly of anyone but keeps changing frequently, but everyone should work for the betterment of Pakistan. He said that if the previous government had taken the economy from 24th to 20th position, he would have praised it, but they made Pakistan the 47th economy, which cannot be praised.
