Austere ways to reform nation: Imran
ISLAMABAD: fn his inauguj ral address to the nationi Prime jinister fmran Khan on Sunday outlined his government’s priorij ties and promised widejranging reforms for the next five years.
fmran pledged that his govj ernment would cut spending and launch austerity measures for the welfare of the masses.
ee thanked all those who stood by him in his political strugglei sayingw “f want to thank all my supporters who have been with me on this journey for the last OO years. f did not want to pursue politics as a careeri but as a means to make this country what it should have been.”
qhe prime minister identified Pakistan’s economic challenges and how he would fix them.
“lur national debt has reached RSOU trillion. qhe debt we took over the last 1M years has doubled. te are facing a situation where we have to take loans to pay off the interests on our foreign debt.”
“The pressure being faced by rupee is due to foreign debts. On one hand, we are under heavy debt, on the other hand, our human development index is at the lowest in the region.”
“We are setting up a high-powered Task Force to bring back money laundered abroad from Pakistan.”
“Never vote for a party leader who has business interests abroad,” he said.
“Look at how we live. Look at how much money is spent by prime ministers on foreign tours? Where do these people spend Rs650 million? Where does the speaker spend the Rs160m budget allotted to him? Are they going abroad to conquer land?”
The new prime minister also invited expatriates to invest in Pakistan.
The former cricket legend ruled out living at the PM House and vowed to build a high-profile university at the premises. The prime minister detailed how he plans on cutting down his own as well the country’s expenditure, saying: “I will keep two people with me out of the 524. I will be staying in a three-bedroom house. I will have to keep two of the cars because my intelligence agencies tell me my life is under threat. I wish I did not have to move out of Bani Gala, but I have been forced to do so.
“We will be auctioning off all the other bullet proof cars. I invite businesses to come and buy them. We will put the proceeds of that auction in the state treasury.”