Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that he found the country’s economy in a much worse state upon taking charge than he had already thought.

“I confess that the economy was in an even worse state that I had thought based on publicly available data,” Dar said.

The minister made the remarks with Geo News’ Shahzeb Khanzada in an interview, adding that the IMF seemed to be behaving ‘abnormally’ by not releasing the latest tranche needed by the economy.

However, the most surprising remarks came when the minister mentioned former minister Miftah Ismail’s latest statement. “Talking is easy after you’ve left,” Dar said of Miftah. Then he added, “He (Miftah) is a non-entity for me on this subject.

Miftah Ismail, who stepped down on September 25, had recently written in an article that Pakistan’s default risk will not vanish even after December’s bonds are paid.

When asked that a former finance minister from his own party had made such remarks, Dar said, “Ask Miftah sahab how much of the $31 billion due this year did he arrange in this fiscal year.”

The interview came at a time when Dar has been coming under increasing pressure to produce a magic solution to the economy’s woes, solutions that he had boasted of having when he returned to the finance ministry after seven years.

“I’m working to have a solid plan how to deal with all these public debt liabilities,” he told Bloomberg in an interview in October. He had also said that the real value of the dollar in rupee terms is under 200.

However, Miftah said that the rate needs to be market driven and he himself could not say for certainty what the real value ought to be. He also added that, “This government will have no right to criticise PTI or anyone else if, having eagerly decided to come in power, it is unable to do what is right for the country.”

When asked about the IMF program, he said that the government has kept up its end but he will not ‘beg’ the fund to release money.