As Pakistan struggles with its worsening economic crisis, its finance minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar has put the onus of reviving the economy on Allah. Ishaq Dar said that the government is praying, that Allah will bring prosperity back to Pakistan.
Allah will bring prosperity and development back to Pakistan. Govt is Praying: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar pic.twitter.com/1HB5t34Rbd
— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) January 27, 2023
The senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader was speaking at the Green Line Express Train service’s inaugural event in Islamabad. He expressed his confidence that Pakistan would advance because it was founded in the name of Islam.
The finance minister said that they are trying their best to improve Pakistan’s condition under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s leadership.
Blaming their predecessors, Ishaq Dar said that the current administration had inherited a number of issues from Imran Khan’s government, adding that it was working around the clock to resolve them.
“The team is trying to improve the situation ahead of the elections”, he said while asserting that the “drama” that began five years ago is still creating problems for the nation. He claimed that the economy was robust during the 2013–2017 administration of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
According to Dar, the Pakistan Stock Exchange was the best-performing capital market in South Asia and rated fifth globally during the rule of Nawaz Sharif, and international institutions had their eyes on it.
He claimed that the “Panama saga,” the overthrow of the PML-N administration, and other problems Pakistan had to deal with over the previous five years were now having an impact on the country. “Pakistan was on the growth track during Nawaz’s tenure, but it was derailed,” he said. “People can see the destruction the country suffered in the last five years, and they know who has delivered in the past,” he added.
The comments garnered backlash online as users criticized the finance minister for failing to address the nation’s economic problems.
Prime Minister Of Pakistan should fire Ishaq Dar. @CMShehbaz
— Hamad Ur Rehman حماد (@hamaduet) January 26, 2023
All his economic theories were meant to secure importance & get vindication in his NAB Cases.@MiftahIsmail was rightly handling economy. Dar did a crime to Pakistan.
عاصمہ کا سسر ہونا، آئین پاکستان میں بے معنی ھے pic.twitter.com/BBAPXp32tT
A Pakistani journalist, Rauf Klasra, asked Dar to owe up to his “utter failure to handle the economy.”
Time for Ishaq Dar to admit his utter failure to handle economy. He had boasted to know IMF more than anyone else in Pakistan. Its obvious now he came to Pakistan to retrieve his Lahore House and Rs 500million from NAB. Mission accomplished so better return to London ASAP.
— Rauf Klasra (@KlasraRauf) January 27, 2023
Another Pakistan journalist, Hamid Mir, asked sarcastically who will claim “credit” as Pakistani Rupee depreciated to a historic low against the US Dollar.
Who will claim the credit of this record breaking performance? https://t.co/vaFPeHWbw4
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) January 27, 2023
Pakistan is in dire need of a bailout due to its severe balance of payments crisis, as its foreign exchange reserves, which plummeted by USD 923 million to USD 3.68 billion, only cover less than three weeks’ worth of imports.
