Pakistan's finance minister said that Allah is responsible for the country's prosperity and development as it was created in the name of Islam...
Digital Desk: As the cash-strapped country faced an acute balance of payments crisis, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that Pakistan is the only country formed in the name of Islam and that Allah is responsible for its progress and prosperity.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Green Line Express Train service, the senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said that he was confident that Pakistan will progress because it was created in the name of Islam.
"If Allah created Pakistan, He can also protect, build, and flourish it," Dar said.
"They are doing their best to improve Pakistan's situation under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's leadership," the finance minister stated.
Dar stressed that the current government is working day and night to tackle the problems that Imran Khan's former government left behind.
"The team is working to improve the situation ahead of the elections." He said that the country is still suffering as a result of the "drama" that began five years ago and claimed that the economy was solid during previous Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's tenure from 2013 to 2017.
The finance minister said that during Nawaz Sharif's tenure, the Pakistan Stock Exchange was the best-performing capital market in South Asia and rated fifth in the world and that global institutions had their sights set on it.
Dar stated that Pakistan was now paying the price for the "Panama fiasco," the ouster of the PML-N government, and other issues it had encountered in the last five years. "Pakistan was on the right course during Nawaz's reign, but it was derailed," he said.
"People can witness the destruction that the country has suffered over the past five years, and they know who has delivered in the past," he added.
Facing an acute balance of payments crisis, Pakistan is desperate to secure much-needed external financing, with less than three weeks' worth of import cover in its foreign exchange reserves, which fell from USD 923 million to USD 3.68 billion.
Pakistan received a USD 6 billion IMF bailout in 2019. In 2022, it was increased by an additional USD 1.1 billion to aid the nation in the wake of devastating floods. However, the IMF halted payments in November as a result of Pakistan's failure to advance fiscal consolidation efforts amid political unrest in the nation.
Meanwhile, the Washington-based global lender stated on Thursday that it would send a staff delegation to Islamabad this month to discuss the possibility of restarting the rescue program.
Despite repeated promises by the finance minister, who replaced Miftah Ismail, to keep the dollar rate around RS 200, the greenback rose to a record high of 268.30 in the interbank market.
The Pakistani rupee continued its downward trajectory on Friday, falling more than Rs 12 against the dollar in the interbank market as the government relaxed currency controls in order to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release a delayed loan tranche.
The local unit was trading at Rs 268.30, compared to the interbank market close of 255.43 on Thursday.
A day earlier, the rupee lost 24.11 in the interbank market, sliding as low as Rs 255.43 to the dollar. The 9.6 percent decrease is the second-largest in a single session.
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