PM 'Will Take Nation Into Confidence On Worst Ever' PTI-IMF Deal.

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday shifted the blame of massive fuel price hike on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and said that he would take the nation into confidence soon on the specifics of 'the IMF-PTI deal.'

Prime minister's statement comes a day after the federal government jacked up fuel prices to record high in order to meet the conditions of the International Monetary Fund to revive the programme.

'Acutely aware of the impact that a fuel price hike causes. Govt is left with no choice but to raise the prices due to IMF deal that PTI govt signed, the premier said in a tweet. 'Will take the nation into confidence on the specifics of the IMF-PTI deal soon. We will get out of these economic difficulties, IA.'

PM Shehbaz also said that the details of the PTI-IMF deal would be released very soon. 'I wonder whether those who struck the worst ever deal with IMF and took patently bad economic decisions have the conscience to face the truth,' he tweeted. 'How can they pretend to be innocent when what the nation is going through is clearly their doing?'

Also, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday directed all the federal ministries and provincial departments to resolve issues of the business community of Sialkot and Sialkot International Airport on priority basis so that the present $ 2.5 billion exports of Sialkot could be increased substantially.

The prime minister was chairing a meeting with a delegation of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Sialkot International Airport here. He directed that all resources should be utilized in this connection.

The prime minister directed the officials of Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industries and Production, State Bank of Pakistan and Federal Board of Revenue to establish sector specific councils to create business friendly environment for the exporters of Sialkot so that development and progress of Sialkot Industrial Zone and Export Processing Zone should be ensured.

The measure will help in saving precious foreign exchange by manufacturing raw material for the export sector with the collaboration of foreign companies.

He said a comprehensive strategy should be formed in collaboration with provincial governments to attract investment for the export sector in the industrial cities of Karachi, Lahore and Sialkot.

The prime minister asked the Minister Railways and Civil Aviation officials to devise an implementable plan with mutual consultation to increase foreign...