PESHAWAR: Advisor to the KP Chief Minister on Finance Muzzammil Aslam on Sunday said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has made 38 foreign trips in the past 22 months and that he has made an average of two foreign trips per month.
In a video statement on the national economy, Muzzammil Aslam said that Shehbaz Sharif had promised to bring in 100 billion dollars in investment, but foreign investment remains zero.The KP Finance adviser said that by the end of 2025, Pakistan has fallen further behind the world and the country’s economic condition was even more fragile than being on a ventilator.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa finance adviser said that the current year was ending with the highest unemployment in the country in 21 years. “And the year is concluding with the highest poverty level in 78 years,” he said, adding Pakistan’s growth rate is continuously declining.
He said that the PDM government kept claiming GDP growth of 5 to 6 percent, while the government, in the meantime, launched slogans like “Uraan Pakistan,” but its performance is zero.
Muzzammil Aslam said that the country’s exports were declining, with exports in November standing at only 2.4 billion dollars. He said that inflation would rise further to 8.9 percent in June, and that the government was still facing a tax collection shortfall of 422 billion rupees. Due to low tax collection, he said, more taxes would be imposed.
Muzzammil Aslam said that the public was once again being punished for the government’s flawed policies, and sales tax on all goods in the country would be raised to 18 percent. “Currently, sales tax in the country varies across different items, 8 percent on some goods, 15 percent on others, and even 25 percent, but now sales tax on all these items will be set at 18 percent,” he added.
Muzzammil said that according to the government, they have saved the country from default, but in reality, they have pushed the public into default. He said that the IMF has already imposed 64 conditions and that another 11 conditions will now be added.
He added that the government recently took a loan of 1,250 billion rupees to eliminate the circular debt in the power sector, as a result of which a surcharge of 3.25 rupees per unit has been imposed on the public. Muzzammil Aslam said that a new gas circular debt has emerged, amounting to 3.2 percent of GDP, which is 3,200 billion rupees. He questioned what the condition of a country would be whose gas circular debt stands at 3.2 percent of GDP.
The CM aide said that the entire gas business is run by PMLN and that they have completely crippled Pakistan’s oil and gas sector.Muzzammil Aslam said that due to the government’s wrong policies, the coming year 2026 will bring even more inflation, poverty, and unemployment.
