ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: Both the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz continued to trade barbs on Thursday, each holding the other responsible for the poor situation of the country’s economy.

As the Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz accused the PTI government of talking of accountability only to divert people’s attention from issues such as increasing inflation, Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar rejected the former’s assertions, saying the Sharifs were working hard for an NRO which the PTI leadership was adamant it won’t give them come what may.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Mr Azhar admitted that the next one-and-a-half years would be a difficult period for the country’s economy.

The remarks came one day after the assessment of the status of Pakistan’s economy by the IMF which painted a gloomy picture for the next five years.

Hamza accused of seeking NRO; opposition leader in Punjab PA asks PM to shun ‘Sharif phobia’, concentrate on performance

Mr Azhar said the government was making all-out efforts to overcome the damage that had occurred to the economy. He said economic indicators were moving in the right direction due to meticulous steps taken by the government. “We need time to improve the economy.”

Mr Azhar said so far the government was busy making plans for redressal of the harm done to the economy. “We are still suffering from after-effects of the previous government’s economic policies,” he said.

Rejecting the statistics given by former finance minister Ishaq Dar the other day, he said external debt was increasing at half the rate when compared with the PML-N government’s first eight months. He said foreign exchange reserves were increasing at a better pace than previously.

However, he admitted, the increase in inflation. Inflation touched a five-year high of 9.4 per cent in March. He said it was due to devaluation of the currency. “However, the government is determined to bring it down,” he added.

The minister said tax amnesty scheme would be launched in April most probably through a presidential ordinance.

The minister said the FIA had compiled data on offshore properties in Dubai owned by Pakistanis and the FBR would start issuing notices to the owners of un-declared properties in the UAE after receiving information from the FIA.

To a question, he said the FBR had already started issuing notices under Benami law.

He said the drop in imports had led to decline in collection of taxes at import stage. However, he said, 3pc growth had been witnessed in revenue collection during nine months of the current fiscal when compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

The minister said the government was planning to again enhance the value of immovable properties. He also said that integration of data mechanism was being implemented and result would be seen by the end of the current month. The non-filers’ data had been integrated with the help of information available with the FBR, State Bank and the FIA to bring non-filers into the tax net, he said.

The minister while referring to Hamza Shahbaz’s remarks said the PTI government had devalued the currency by 10.8pc during the past eight months, while the PML-N during the first eight months of its tenure had devalued it by 10.1pc. However, he added, during the last seven months of the PML-N government the currency was further devalued by 17pc.

Mr Azhar defended the devaluation of the currency, saying foreign currency reserves in August 2018 were depleted to the extent that the government was unable to meet short-term liabilities. “You cannot throw billions of dollars into the market to defend an overvalued currency,” he elaborated.

Mr Azhar claimed that now the value of the rupee stood closer to its real value. “Please refrain from concocting stories of devaluation and throwing sand into people’s eyes,” he said while addressing Hamza Shahbaz.

He also rejected the numbers quoted by Hamza Shahbaz. “Mr Hamza is just trying to divert attention from his NAB case,” the state minister said. “No matter how much he screams and shouts, the government will not give him an NRO,” he said. “Mr Hamza, no matter how much you cosy up to Maulana Fazlur Rehman or Asif Zardari, you will not get an NRO now. Everything stands exposed before the nation.”

The state minister advised Hamza Shahbaz to direct his focus on serious charges levelled against him.

“Looking at the media reports which describe how money was taken abroad and then brought back makes it abundantly clear that there is no discernible difference between the Omni Group case and the Hamza Shahbaz case,” the minister said.

He said Mr Hamza had spoken of the stock market plummeting but had “failed to mention that in the last year of the PML-N government’s tenure, the stock market had dropped from 53,000 points to 44,000 points and the government had provided no reason as to why this occurred.”

“If rivers of milk were flowing then, why did such a drop occur,” he questioned.

Reacting to the tirades launched against the Sharifs by representatives of PTI, Hamza Shahbaz advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to come out of “Sharif phobia” and concentrate on his performance.

Talking to reporters outside the Punjab Assembly, Mr Hamza said that PM Khan was talking of accountability only to divert people’s attention from real issues. Unprecedented price hike has caused extreme mental agony to people, he said.

PM Khan had earlier made false allegation against Shahbaz Sharif of receiving Rs10 billion, he said.

“Such [corruption] cases have been made on political grounds. We faced NAB for 10 years but our involvement in corruption was not proved,” he said, adding the PML-N would not let Imran Khan to hide behind the NAB.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2019