Miftah Ismail blames Ishaq Dar for delay in IMF programme

ISLAMABAD: Former finance minister Miftah Ismail has slammed ex-FinMin Ishaq Dar once again and blamed him for the delay in the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

While talking to the ARY News programme ‘The Reporters’, Miftah Ismail said that talk shows were organised against him during his tenure and tweets were shared to malign him.

Ismail alleged that Dar was obsessed with becoming the finance minister for the fourth time and he was resisting his every move which led to the delay in the IMF programme.

Miftah Ismail claimed that harsh statements were given by the top PML-N leader after the hike of Rs1 per litre on petrol.

The former finance minister said that every political government has always increased debts of the country. He was of the view that the inflation was caused due to the printing of currency, wrong taxes and increasing debts.

He criticised that three major parties of Pakistan failed to deliver the nation and they are not even discussing the public issues and the skyrocketing inflation.

Miftah Ismail said that there is a need of the new political party. He claimed that several political bigwigs including Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Lashkari Raisani and Khawaja Muhammad Hoti have the same thoughts.

He added that they like-minded political bigwigs have sensed the need of a new political party, however, it is not yet decided who would lead it.

On Sunday, Ismail said that the country will be destroyed without taxing the elites.

While talking to the ARY News programme Sawal Yeh Hai, Miftah Ismail said that financial issues would not be resolved until elites go without taxes. He suggested the government to reduce expenses to improve the economy.

The former finance minister said that 40% inflation has not only destroyed the middle class people but it is now affected the upper class people.

He criticised that the leaders had not taken right decisions on the right time. “In 2017, the government increased the taxes on salaried persons by 15%, whereas, 261 billion are being taken from the salaried persons in terms of taxes today, whereas, only 61 billion of taxes are being received from big exporters.”

Ismail said that the government is not imposing property and agriculture taxes in provinces. He opposed the imposition of taxes on retailers and wholesalers.