Dar vs Khan: Ishaq challenges IK to live debate on economy

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, in a televised address on Friday, strongly criticised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s economic policies and challenged him to hold a “live debate” with him on the economic crisis.

The finance czar started by saying that the incumbent government sacrificed politics for the sake of the country.

Taking a jibe at Khan’s address in which he narrated his economic successes, Dar said that the speech was “full of lies” and that he quoted wrong figures.

“You [Khan] can hold a live debate and bring the economic survey and State Bank documents,” he said, asking the PTI chief to not mislead the public by quoting ‘wrong figures’.

Speaking about Imran’s claims of creating 55 million jobs, the finance minister argued that the economic survey from the PTI setup showed that only 33 million jobs were created.

Accusing Khan of creating the ongoing economic crisis, he said that inflation rate was 8.6 per cent under the former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, which spiked to double digits during the PTI era.

Shedding light on International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dar said when Imran realised he was being ousted, he disowned all the agreements and left behind landmines, adding that Pakistan had only completed one IMF programme in its history which was under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif.

Dar also claimed that during their previous tenure international rating agencies predicted Pakistan would join G20 by 2030.