India attained economic development after adopting PML-N’s policies, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif has claimed, as he boasted about his performance as the former prime minister of Pakistan.
“When we made policies, the treasury started filling up,” he said while addressing the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday. “If the development and policy of our era had continued, the dollar would have been worth Rs40 or Rs50.”
In the past, former finance minister Ishaq Dar has also made tall claims about his economic policies that have been concerning for many economic experts as they claim that the PML-N government plans were not long-term.
They have also criticised Dar’s decisions related to the rupee value and stock market. In June, Dar alleged that the international lender wanted Pakistan to become Sri Lanka, which defaulted on foreign debt last year, for the loan programme. Moreover, he did not disclose the ‘Plan B’ that he claimed in front of Parliament was ready if a deal was not clinched with the IMF.
The former finance minister was also criticised by experts for his negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and for his comments that the IMF “cannot dictate him”. He had claimed that the dollar would go below Rs200 as the prevailing value of the greenback was not “real”. But it did not happen.
“The policies we made in 1990 were also endorsed by all chambers and the business community. The policies we made were right for Pakistan. I want to tell you that every developed country of the world first implemented the policies which we made,” Nawaz said and claimed that many developed countries were imposing conditions on the country to follow the same path.
He described them as “double standards”.
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The PML-N supremo returned to Pakistan in October after ending four years of his self imposed exile. But many political commentators believed that Nawaz had been pulling strings while sitting in London.
“After 1990, we freed business from traditional boundaries,” the PML-N supremo said, “it is our responsibility to free the people from inflation and poverty.”
He claimed that during their tenure there was only a six per cent policy rate, but today it was 22 per cent. Nawaz wondered who would do business with such a policy rate.
“We ourselves did injustice to Parliament and the prime ministers and then the country was handed over to whom. The rupee, the economy, and the system became a disaster. The bills increased and the prices increased five times.”
