According To Miftah Ismail, Rupee Would Improve 'In The Next Two Weeks.'.

Finance minister Miftah Ismail on Sunday during his press conference in Islamabad said that the Pakistani rupee, which has taken a beating against the US dollar in recent weeks, should see some improvement 'in the two weeks'.

Ismail said that the coalition government believed it had saved the country from defaulting.

'We plan to give Pakistan a healthy economy. We are determined to minimize the current account deficit and turn it into surplus within a year or so.'

The minster said that the government had succeeded in curbing imports and would make efforts to increase exports over the next two to three months.

'But the big issue of impending default has been resolved.'

Criticizing the former PTI government, he said that the coalition government was not capable of bringing the country to the brink in a mere three months.

'The ones who brought the country to this point was the PTI and Imran Khan.'

He said that in 2018, Pakistan's debt was approximately $25bn. 'When we came into power, it had soared to $44.5bn. In four-and-a-half years, you increased our debt by $20bn,' he said, holding the party responsible for 'four consecutive budget deficits'.

He blamed the policies of his predecessor, Shaukat Tarin, and the PTI chief for the burgeoning current account deficit.

'In four years, the PTI could not reach the tax-GDP ratio of the PML-N government. We had left it at 11.1pc and the PTI took it to 9pc. Khan sahab used to say he would increase tax [collection] but he reduced it every year.'

When you are reducing tax collection every year and increasing your budget deficit, then you will be debt, he pointed out. He added that the former government imposed direct taxes which forced the coalition government to present a 'difficult budget' by imposing direct taxes.

He also blamed the PTI government for the increase in circular debt, saying that it had gone from $1.1bn to $2.5bn during its tenure. The minister said that the PTI chief did not increase the power tariff for 1.5 years, which is why consumers were not receiving bills with fuel adjustment charges for April.

'They did not work on any area. Yes, they kept on appearing on the media, on Twitter and giving false statements [...]. They ask who is responsible. You are responsible Khan sahab.'

He said...