Pakistan will never default under any condition: Dar claims

ISLAMABAD, March 03 (SABAH): Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday reiterated that Pakistan would not default under any condition as he simultaneously blamed ousted premier Imran Khan for ‘sinking the economy’.

Addressing a presser on the country’s current economic situation, Ishaq Dar stated that the incumbent government made a principled decision to either save its own politics or the state during last year’s vote of no confidence which ousted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran.

He maintained that the state’s interest was prioritised, which was the correct decision. “We have never defaulted, and we will not. We were in a precarious situation and are going through it currently,” he added.

Dar criticised the PTI chief and asked him to reflect on his government’s economic performance instead of continuously talking about Pakistan defaulting. He added that the PTI was hindering the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement.

He furthered that Imran’s attitude was selfish and that globally, the opposition worked with the government to resolve national issues. The minister continued that instead of uniting to steer Pakistan out of crises, the PTI chief was only worried about criticizing the incumbent government. The finance minister added that such an attitude impacted the financial markets.

“Mismanagement and bad governance were the reasons for Pakistan’s current predicament,” he said. Dar then detailed economic indicators from the previous PTI reign comparing it to the PML-N government’s performance.