ISLAMABAD, DEC 07 (DNA) – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif has lashed out at government for raising electricity price by Rs3.75 per unit terming it proof of the IMF slavery.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the PML-N president said that the cruel decisions of the government were hitting the poor people and country’s economy like a bolt from the blue. He said the high power prices would trigger unemployment and inflation in the country thus drowning the economy.
He criticized the government for not providing relief to masses after the oil prices were reduced internationally. “The government has cut a joke with the people after imposing petroleum development levy and sales tax,” he said adding that his party rejected the government rational and its measures altogether.
He wondered why people shouldn’t call Prime Minister Imran Khan ‘thief’ seeing that our rupee was losing value in his tenure spanning on almost 3 ½ years. The rupee shed its value by Rs54, he added. He said in 40 months, the rupee was depreciated by 30.5% when compared to the US dollar
After the Fall of Dhaka when rupee shed its value by 58%, this is the biggest depreciation of our currency, he lamented. Shehbaz said that the nation was in need of a true representative, able and honest leadership.
He advised the present government that instead of putting country’s security and economy at jeopardy, it should confess to its failure in the best national interest. Imran Niazi should not play with the people’s lives and national security only to boost his ego and incompetence.
He said that in the Nawaz Sharif tenure, Pakistan was regarded as one of the 20 rising economies of the world, but now it was a crisis-hit country.
He deplored that increasing the evaluation of immovable properties from 35 to 700 was a blatant mistake that would close down all economic activities in the country. After this step, people would not invest in properties and tax revenues would be decreased. This would also have a negative impact on iron, cement blocks, brick and more than 50 other factories related to the construction industry.
He said he had also warned the government about its ‘hot money’ pursuit which had damaged the economy. He said the government was going to take the fiscal measures of Rs800 billion after which the economy would come under pressure.
He termed the reduction of Rs250 billion development expenditures and Rs550 billion new taxes totally unjustified. He said economists were questioning the rationale behind government’s agreement with the IMF believing that the government had put aside country’s national interests for getting loan. = DNA
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