PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry says economy running ‘without a driver’

Ex-Information Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Chaudhry criticised the newly-formed government over its new economic policies.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Chaudhry said that the inflation rate in the country has reached a three-year high, while the government's hopes to grab monetary benefits from allies Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) remained unmet.

Inflation increased to 13.4% on year-on-year basis in April 2022 as compared to 12.7 percent in the previous month and 11.1% in April 2021, revealed Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Meanwhile, Chaudhry said that the government's policy on fuel prices remains unclear. “The economy is practically running without a driver,” he said, adding that the "interim government" is just whiling away time.

The statement comes a day after Finance Minister Miftah Ismail slammed the former PTI government for destroying the country’s economy. Talking to reporters in Karachi, he said: "We are going to fix it and everyone will see the difference in the coming months."

Miftah said the previous government did not tell the people about the agreements it made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"They had vowed to eliminate the loss of Rs30 in petrol prices, place a levy of Rs30 and a sales tax of 17pc, increasing [the price] by approximately Rs90. This is something PM Shehbaz Sharif has resisted and will continue to do so."

Facing depletion in foreign exchange reserves while the import bill balloons, Islamabad remains in talks with the IMF for the revival of its stalled Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

Apart from the programme resumption, the government sought an increase in the size and duration of its $6-billion EFF.