Afghanistan visit: PM Imran Khan spent less amount than previous rulers

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has once against set an example of least expenditure on foreign trips after it emerged that he spent less amount during his one-day visit to Afghanistan two days back as compared to the previous rulers, ARY NEWS reported.  

According to the details obtained by ARY NEWS, the visit to Afghanistan by Prime Minister Imran Khan along with his entire team has cost US$11,000 to the national exchequer.

The expenditure incurred by Imran Khan is fewer than former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose visit to Afghanistan during 2015 cost the national kitty around US$58,000, at least four times more than the expenditure incurred by the incumbent premier.

Furthermore, PPP Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf visited Afghanistan during 2012 and an amount of US$51,000 was spent during his visit to the neighbouring country.

An expenditure of US44,000 was incurred from the national kitty during former President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Afghanistan in 2009.

The data clearly shows that the expenditure on the visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Afghanistan has witnessed an extraordinary decline as compared to the rulers who visited the same country during their previous tenures.

This is not the first time that Imran Khan has saved the money of the taxpayers.

In July 2019, it emerged that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s last visit to Washington cost the national kitty $460,000 in comparison to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s US trip, which would be costing just $50,000.

The statistics were shared by a former PTI leader Naeemul Haq, who died at the end of 2019.

“Whereas the last trip to Washington by the then PM Nawaz Sharif cost the government 460,000 dollars, the current trip by PM Imran Khan is costing only 50,000 dollars.

This is part of the austerity drive by the government which aims at cutting down all unnecessary expenditure,” Naeemul Haq tweeted.