Ishaq Dar delivers comprehensively irrelevant speech at CPEC Summit-Expo

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, delivered a detailed speech, while chairing the concluding session of CPEC Summit-Expo on 29th August 2016. The speech was comprehensively irrelevant with reference to the CPEC Summit.

Finance Minister addressing to the audience, which included several Chinese delegations and foreign diplomats, in his usual way, projected mainly the massive economic growth in the country, which is widely controversial according to the independent economists and academia, instead of explaining the different aspects and confusions in terms of the economic prospects of CPEC. More than 85 percent portion of his speech was projecting the PML-N’s government and how they have overturned the entire economic situation of the country.

“The economy’s challenge is almost over, but this is not done yet, we have to go further forward”; said Senator Ishaq Dar.The Finance Minister, together with slightly highlighting different aspects of CPEC, took the credit of the significant economic growth the country is having at the moment and explained the audience that government is providing all sorts of facilities to the business community which has helped PML-N’s government in achieving record economic growth in terms of lowest inflation in 47years and 40years low interest rate along with 4.7% of GDP that is highest over the last 8years.

He further said that when we took the government, we have been asked that achieving economic stability and prosperity is not even possible till 2018, but the government successfully managed to transform Pakistan in 3 years’ time period. “Pakistan in 2016 is absolutely different than it was in 2013”, said Dar.

Regarding the government’sclaims of massive economic growth being made by Finance Minister; in an exclusive chat with Pakistan Today, Dr Ashfaq Hasan Khan, a critic of the government and leading economist of the country, and Mohammad Ali Kemal, an independent economist, said that economy at the moment is having a deflationary impact which is quite visible through credit creation of SBP.

The GDP growth, although, has touched 4.7% that is highest over the last 8 years, still, it is below the benchmark of 7% which absorbs the future labor force.