Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) secretary-general Ahsan Iqbal has said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s government has taken more loans in its three years in governance than the previous two governments of the PML-N and PPP combined.

"I want to ask Imran Khan where is the debt commission's report, that he formed, on foreign loans that Pakistan has taken so far," he said while talking to reporters in Islamabad.

Iqbal added that Imran Khan had said that he would tell the nation how the past governments used foreign loans to launder money. "Why has not the government published the debt commission's report which Prime Minister Khan had formed to investigate the expenditure of foreign loans," he inquired.

Iqbal said that the government has not published the report because it has taken more loans than other governments in the past.

He claimed that the PML-N government spent loans on major electricity projects. "We installed 11,000 megawatts of new projects, started the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and brought other investments to the country.

“What has Imran Khan’s government done with the loans taken so far,” he asked.

This government has only increased people’s liabilities with the loans it has taken, he said. “It is a non-productive debt,” he claimed.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that developing a tax culture was vital for Pakistan’s sustainability as the country could not be run on foreign loans.

“It is essential for Pakistan to develop a tax culture because the country’s sustainability is at stake. We cannot continue like this.

“The biggest issue my government has faced is that when we took over, the country was on the verge of bankruptcy. We did not have enough money to run the country, due to which we had to take loans,” he said.

The premier lamented that his government did not have enough money to manage its finances effectively as previous rulers did not promote a tax culture.

“Ruling elite never allowed the tax culture to develop in Pakistan,” Khan said, adding there is a trust deficit between common people and the government.

“The masses believe that the ruling elite doesn’t care about them. When people believe that the tax money will be utilised for their own benefits, they will start paying taxes.”