‘Even friendly nations think we’re beggars…’: Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif on economic crisis
‘Even friendly nations think we’re beggars,’ said Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while speaking on the country’s turbulent economy while speaking at a Lawyers’ Convention. “Today, when we go to any friendly country or make a phone call, they think that we have come (o them) to beg for money,” he said.
Talking about the devastation caused by massive floods in the country, PM Sharif noted that the economy was anyway struggling before the floods which made it even worse. He stressed that Pakistan was on the verge of an ‘economic collapse’ when he assumed office earlier this year in April. Sharif further claimed that his government, through ‘hard work’ saved the country and ‘controlled the economic instability to some extent,’ as per reports by Pakitan Media outlet The Dawn.
The Pakistan PM indirectly blamed the previous PTI government led by Imran Khan for the skyrocketing inflation. He said that the previous government violated the terms of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) leaving the current government with no choice but to agree to tougher conditions.
PM Sharif went on to say that smaller economies than Pakistan have surpassed the country and ‘we have been wandering for the past 75 years carrying a begging bowl.’ “Where does Pakistan stand today after 75 years? This is a pinching question … We are moving in a circle all the time,” he said.
The Prime Minister further warned of a possible gas crisis in the upcoming winter claiming that he had been struggling to arrange gas. He noted that rains and floods had caused ‘unprecedented havoc’ in the country on a scale that has not been witnessed anywhere else in the world.
