Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill said on Sunday that the opposition parties’ criticism of the preference of government was baseless, as Pakistan was now achieving successes on various counts and all its economic indicators were showing an upward trend.
He was addressing a news conference here at PID office, while MPA Musarrat Jamshed Cheema and PTI Central Deputy Secretary Information Punjab Asim Shaukat Ali also accompanied him.
Gill added that the parties blaming the PTI for having no skills to run affairs of the state had bankrupted the country through their loot and plunder of national exchequer and resources during their tenures in government. He recalled that in 2013, the PML-N had inherited USD 20,000 current account deficit (CAD) and USD 25,000 export revenue, but at the end of its government term in 2018, the country’s CAD had increased manifold and export revenues decreased to the lowest level. Furthermore, the PML-N claiming to have the best abilities to run the government had squeezed the country’s foreign exchange reserves from USD 18 billion to USD 9 billion just because of its ill-conceived and personal interest-centric economic policies.
The SAPM mentioned that though the PTI had inherited a jeopardised economy and ruined system of governance, it had managed to increase foreign exchange reserves from USD 9 billion to USD 23 billion, while export increased by 13.5 per cent with total export revenue volume of USD 21.5 billion today. The dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan had a clear vision and better knowledge of when and where to launch which project in which sector for an overall boost to the economy. Since agriculture and livestock farming were the lifeline of the rural economy, the prime minister launched various initiatives and gave incentives to the agri sector, and today, the farmers were getting a better price for their crops.
The government was also working out a plan for livestock development, while the construction sector was also growing fast due to effective policies of the PTI government, he added.
Dr Shahbaz Gill disclosed that in May 2021, petroleum products sales volume recorded at 1,692,000 tons with diesel 762,000 tons, petrol 730,000 tons and 200,000 tons of kerosene oil, light diesel etc. and it was the highest quantum sale of petroleum products in a month in the history of Pakistan. He argued that the biggest sale of petroleum products proved the fact that the country’s economy was on the growth side as POL (petrol, oil and lubricants) products were used in automobiles, transport, industrial, agricultural and other sectors of economy.
He said that the PML-N leadership was “on the silent mode” even in June, the days of budget in which the opposition was supposed to give tough time to the treasury benches, but the opposition had no point to object to the government that was very much serious for country’s development and uplifting the poor segments of society and taking corrective and effective measures to remove all weaknesses in the system for better public service delivery.
