Hammad Azhar slams PMLN, PPP for victim blaming govt over economy

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar rebutting the points made by the opposition on the country’s economy and finance told the National Assembly on Friday that those who form opinions on the basis of singular tweets don’t like listening to answers of their questions, ARY News reported.

The minister said that the country’s current account deficit has remained the primary focus for the past 20 years, during the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) era the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate fell up to a negative 0.4%.

He added that the loans see an exponential increase depending on the country’s current account deficit, When Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) ended its tenure the GDP was 5.4 percent which were dangerous level as implied by Moody’s in the past.

Hammad Azhar said that the growth rate for the country in the first three quarters of the year was 17%, we were hopeful that we would be able to achieve a 4700 billion tax target which did not happen.

Azhar said that the targets were not met in part to the global coronavirus pandemic.

The minster also said that the people who spoke on exports earlier in the day should remain cognizant of the historic dips observed in their tenure.

Shifting focus on PMLN, Azhar said that the party should not mention the sugar probe in any instance as they themselves are party to the conflict with several sugar mills of their own.

Negating rumors on a possibility of a secretive finance report presented to the federal cabinet, Azhar said the government has given back loans worth Rs10 billion annually which included a Rs5000 billion mark up.

In conclusion the federal minster said that every institute of the federal government was onboard to formulate this year’s budget.