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Ishaq Dar leaves Pakistan, her economy at mercy of Allah

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Finance Minister Ishaq Dar

Ishaq Dar leaves Pakistan, her economy at mercy of Allah. Image: File

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Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who had come to Pakistan from London with tall claims that he very well knew and had great skills to deal with the IMF, control the declining rupee and put the economy on right track, said Pakistan is the only country in the world, which was founded in the name of Islam and Allah is responsible for its development and prosperity.

He expressed these spiritual and religious views for the remedy of economic owes of the country while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Green Line Express Train service in Islamabad on Friday.

The senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said that he had full faith that Pakistan would progress because it was created in the name of Islam.

“If Allah can create Pakistan then He can also protect, develop, and make it prosper,” Dar said.

The finance minister said, “They are trying their best to improve Pakistan’s condition under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s leadership”.

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Dar reiterated the incumbent government inherited several problems from the previous government led by Imran Khan, adding, the government was working day and night.

“The team is trying to improve the situation ahead of the elections.”

He said the country is still suffering due to the “drama” that started five years ago and insisted that the economy was strong during former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s tenure from 2013-2017.

The finance minister claimed that Pakistan Stock Exchange was the best-performing capital market in South Asia and ranked fifth in the world during Nawaz Sharif’s era and the sights of the world institutions were set on it.

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Dar said that Pakistan was now paying the price for the “Panama drama”, the ouster of the PML-N government, and similar issues it faced over the last five years.

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“Pakistan was on the growth track during Nawaz’s tenure, but it was derailed,” he said.

“People can see the destruction the country suffered in the last five years, and they know who has delivered in the past,” Dar added.

He said the cost of ML1 was project at $6 billion under $46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, however due to failure by the previous regime for not executing on time; it may cost now $11 billion to $12 billion.

“This is legacy of previous government which this government inherited. They [previous government] should have actually implemented that but they could not,” the minister said.

The minister congratulated Federal Minister for Railways, Khawaja Saad Rafiq for reviving the impressive Green Line Railway service.
The minister also highlighted the importance of commercialization of railway track, which he said would not only help Railways to stand on its own feet but would make it profit-earning organization to contribute in the national economy.

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He also underlined the importance for utilizing Railways for freight transport which he said could minimizing the transport cost to a great extent.

The minister said that Pakistan had become 24th largest economy in 2016 however owing to PTI inabilities it stood at 47th number last year. He highlighted the importance of investigating the reasons behind this downfall.

He said, Pakistan Muslim League (N) government had turned around economy at a time when it was predicted to default within a period of 6 months back in 2013.

He said, during the past PML(N) tenure, food inflation was just 2 percent; general inflation 4.6 percent whereas GDP was recorded at 6.8 percent with highest foreign reserves adding the Pakistan Stock Exchange was best in South Asia and 5th best performing in the world.

He said, at that time all world organization were looking towards Pakistan, which was predicted to be second choicest investment destination. He however deplored that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf ruined all this progress.

The minister said, Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif has been meeting many challenges and expressed the hope that he would pull the country out of quagmire.

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Meanwhile, speaking on the occasion, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal said that railways act as a backbone for the economy, and its development was directly linked with the economic development.

He said the PML-N government started ML-1 railway project under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in 2017-18 which was aimed at modernizing the railway sector in Pakistan besides increasing the speed of the trains up to 160 kilometers per hour.

However, he said the successive PTI government did not give importance to this project due to which progress on the project stopped.

Ahsan Iqbal said the country’s economy must have to be based on export led growth as the exports need to jump from current $32 billion per year to over $100 billion in few years.

He said just as Pakistan is paying price of the global carbon emissions due to which the country had to bear loss of over $30 billion after disastrous flooding last year, the current government is also paying the price of irrational economic decisions and policies of the previous government.

However he resolved to put full force to undo the wrong policies of the previous government and to put the country’s economy again on the path of rapid growth and development.

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