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As government departs, PM Abbasi presents rundown of PML-N's five-year performance
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday presented a comparison of the country's economic situation in 2013 — when the PML-N took over power — and where it stands as the party bows out.
Flanked by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, the prime minister presented historical figures for various economic indicators, pointing out that foreign direct investment (FDI), per capita income, total investments and capital markets have all grown since the PML-N government took power.
Agricultural credit has increased from Rs259 billion in 2013 to Rs756bn in 2018, he claimed. Production of major crops including wheat, maize, sugarcane and rice has also increased over this period, while efforts are being made to revive cotton production, he added.
Inflation in 2013 was 7.75pc while the consumer price index today stands at 3.77pc, Abbasi said, adding that food, non-food and core inflation have decreased significantly over the past five years.
Read: PML-N lawmakers tear into PTI's 'unrealistic' 100-day agenda
He said that despite export challenges, the government has been able to bring exports to the same levels as they were in 2013.
Imports, another challenge according to the prime minister, have increased from $33.4bn to $45.6bn, Abbasi said, attributing the rise to machinery imports and a recent spike in oil prices.
Remittances have grown over 40pc while the FDI is three times that in 2013, Abbasi claimed. Both public and private investment have increased over this period. Meanwhile, the per capita income experienced a 23pc increase since the PML-N took power, the prime minister claimed.
"The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) stood at Rs46.5bn [when we took over], while Rs121bn have been disbursed this year. The beneficiaries have increased from 3.75 million to 5.63m and the monthly amount has been increased to Rs5,000."
The prime minister said that the capital markets suffered after reaching a historic high because of political events, but still managed to grow considerably.
"FBR collection was Rs1.505 trillion and is now at Rs2.919tr," he said.
The prime minister also said that the credit to private sector was in the negative when the incumbent government took over but has now been brought to Rs527bn.
"As a percentage of GDP, domestic debt has increased from 42.5pc to 46.5pc and external debt has fallen from 21.4pc to 20.5pc," he said, before handing over the mic to his finance minister, who claimed that Pakistan's ability to repay the debt was also increasing with the increase in its debt.
Heading into the general elections, scheduled for July 25, the PML-N government seems to be making last efforts to apprise the people of its performance over the past five years and has been demanding other parties to demonstrate theirs.
With the caretaker prime minister announced today, Abbasi and his cabinet are set to step down from office on May 31 and hand over the reins to he interim setup.
Comments (18) Closed
The present government stands out in its achievements. Never before a government was able to deliver so much on so many fronts in five years. Be it lower generation, communication (3G/4G), transportation, infrastructure, hospitals, education, employment. The N League will surely return in the forthcoming elections.
All very vague and generalities. He couldn't provide a single achievement, a concrete example or a project that country can be proud of - that was intitiated by NS during his three terms in office.
Lack of credibility, lack of proof and checkered past would've overshadowed even a single achievement of PML-N government - had there been one!~
Why does he not talk about mounting debt level, budget deficit, rising unemployment and disaffacted populace who choose to travel by foot or through people smugglers to the West to seek a better life for themselve and their families? When did we ever see so many Pakistanis dying on the high seas trying to reach Europe? Only under PML-N government.
Sadly, Abbasi is trying to whitewash the failures, but has nothing to boast about his party or his own record during the past several months.
The reality on ground is quite contrary to these so-called economic indicators. Did we succeed to increase, quality human resource, good education, employment opportunities, consistent infrastructure, green environment & etc.? Answer is big NO & nothing except CPEC & telecom industry which was initiated by a dictator but now politicians are owning it for their face saving.
The reality on ground is quite contrary to these so-called economic indicators. Did we succeed to increase, quality human resource, good education, employment opportunities, consistent infrastructure, green environment & etc.? Answer is big NO & nothing except CPEC & telecom industry which was initiated by a dictator but now politicians are owning it for their face saving.
The country is nearly bankrupt with hardly any Foreign Cash Reserves. But this man wants to tout PML-N's achievements?
Just provide one example where people of this nation can comfortably say, that they are better off now, than under any previous government?
Good job PML-N
Taken into account the inflation, the rise in per capita does not mean that people are better off than they were in 2013. The PMLN government was lucky that oil prices remained low through most of its tenure and it was able to tax petroleum products to the maximum. The recent actions of the outgoing government such as three months bonus for all federal employees indicates that government knows they are not coming back into power after elections and these actions are to make the life of the next government more difficult. No sane government would announce such a thing when faced with historic fiscal deficit and in need of an additional 10 or so billion dollars before the end of June.
what about debt?
What have they done? Nothing, poor governance. PTI is my vote for the next elections.
Very well done PMLN! Fantastic performance. May you return as winners of Election 2018 to continue the good work with even more vigor.
Where is your housing policy, educations policy, health policy or any meaningful policy......fattening bureaucrats and politicians does not mean progress.
Out going PM should also give performance on following fronts: 1- Level of foreign debt in 2013 and 2018 2- Oil and Gas Exploration / Production results from 2013 to 2018 3- Transparency in LPG purchase from Qatar 4- Efforts on improvement of PIA when his own private air company is earning good profit. 5- Efforts made on running steel mill Karachi 6- Construction of Dams to generate cheap electricity 7- Improvements in providing people Pakistan Health and Educational facilities. 8- Reforms in Agriculture Production 9- Industrial Reforms and change in Labour policies
The only achievement are motorways, metro buses and more motorways, all because they made omission from the contracts.
@Aftab Qureishi What PTI did in five years in KP? Please elaborate
PML-N's last ten years performance = Corruption, Corruption and Corruption.
@Sceptic And they left us with a huge debt hitting $80bn. Musharaf has brought it down to $32bn.
the PM should also report stats on corruption by the PML-N, citing NAB statistics.
Now the politicians are claiming every achievement of their own though they did nothing eccept making money n run away