ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Miftah Ismail on Saturday said real freedom means economic self-reliance, without which the concept of freedom and self-reliance is not achieved.
He said the PTI government took 79% of the external debt out of the total debt taken in the country’s history, he said.
The federal minister said this in a live press conference on Pakistan Television.
The finance minister said, during the PTI tenure, Pakistan’s imports jumped up to US$80 billion while the trade deficit reached $48 billion, which is a record in the country’s history.
Miftah wondered how PTI could talk about real freedom without achieving economic self-sufficiency.
He said that former finance minister Shaukat Tarin’s today’s press conference differs from the facts.
Miftah said that the former PTI government was leading the country towards default and the Muslim League government under the leadership of Prime Minister, Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif saved the country from bankruptcy.
The minister said “we have saved the country from a situation like Sri Lanka, where petrol and gas are blacking out”.
He said that PTI made agreements with the IMF to make electricity and oil more expensive, the effect of which continued even during our government’s tenure. PTI government raised Rs 19,000 billion rupees in loans during their tenure, he added.
