LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader and former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail sounded alarm, saying that Pakistan is on verge of default.

Taking to twitter, Miftah stated, “I don’t know what optimal rate of dollar is, only market can determine that. Last year imports were $ 80 billion and exports $ 31 billion. No.1 priority of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar shouldn’t be to make imports cheaper and export harder, which is what an appreciated rupee does.” Former financial czar in his article stated that even after paying December Sukuk bonds, risk of bankruptcy does not lessen. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government did not follow agreement with International Monetary Fund, which is why risk of default increased.

Miftah also said, “We cannot take any risks but at same time we need to make effective strategies for creditors. National interest should be preferred over political differences. If government does not take necessary steps, it will not be in a position to criticise PTI. A major decline of 38 percent was observed in exports from 2013 to 2018, which was a huge deficit for current account. Because PTI did not follow IMF’s agreement, economy faced massive downfall, we had to take challenging steps and sign new agreement with them.”

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 28 2022

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