Shehbaz Sharif, the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and the leader of the opposition, has slammed the government for raising electricity prices by Rs3.75 per unit, calling it proof of IMF slavery.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the PML-N president said that the government’s cruel decisions were hitting the poor and the country’s economy like a bolt from the blue. He claimed that high energy prices would cause unemployment and inflation in the country, effectively drowning the economy.
He chastised the government for failing to provide relief to the masses after international oil price cuts. “The government has made a joke of the people by imposing a petroleum development levy and a sales tax,” he said, adding that his party completely rejected the government’s rationale and measures.
He questioned why people should not call Prime Minister Imran Khan a “thief,” given that our rupee has lost value during his nearly three-and-a-half-year tenure. He went on to say that the rupee had lost Rs54 in value. He claimed that the rupee had depreciated by 30.5 percent against the US dollar in 40 months.
This is the biggest depreciation of our currency since the fall of Dhaka, when the rupee lost 58 percent of its value, he lamented.
Shehbaz stated that the country needed a true representative, capable, and honest leadership.
He advised the current government that, rather than jeopardising the country’s security and economy, it should admit failure in the best national interest. Imran Niazi should not jeopardise people’s lives and national security for the sake of boosting his ego and incompetence.
He claimed that during Nawaz Sharif’s tenure, Pakistan was regarded as one of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies, but that it is now a crisis-hit country.
He bemoaned the fact that increasing the valuation of immovable properties from 35 to 700 was a blatant error that would effectively shut down all economic activity in the country. People would not invest in real estate as a result of this step, and tax revenues would be reduced. This would also have a negative impact on iron, cement blocks, brick, and more than 50 other construction-related factories.
He also stated that he had warned the government about its ‘hot money’ pursuit, which had harmed the economy.
He stated that the government would implement Rs800 billion in fiscal measures, putting the economy under pressure. He deemed the reduction of Rs250 billion in development expenditures and the imposition of Rs550 billion in new taxes to be completely unjustified.
He stated that economists were questioning the logic behind the government’s agreement with the IMF, believing that the government had sacrificed the country’s national interests in order to obtain a loan.
