Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has hit back at former finance czar Miftah Ismail for predicting Pakistan’s default, saying that such people should be ashamed.
According to the details, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar made the comments while speaking to a delegation of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Islamabad.
While Ishaq Dar did not take Miftah Ismail’s name, it was clear that his anger was directed at his party colleague and former minister, who had recently said that the country would default in October sans the revival of the stalled International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) program.
During his address to the business delegation, Ishaq Dar stated that the government’s top priority was to ensure that “there is not a single day’s delay in Pakistan’s sovereign commitments.” He asserted that there had been no such delay thus far.
Read more: Khawaja Asif claims Pakistan is already in default
“Our top priority is to ensure all sovereign commitments are made on time and there must not be a delay even for a day. And it didn’t happen. But some people have this habit of giving dates of Pakistan’s default. I have been hearing that for the past year,” Ishaq Dar said.
“They should be ashamed. You should be a well-wisher of your country, and you should be loyal to your soil. Rather than giving people hope and giving them confidence, now there’s a new prediction for default in October,” the Finance Minister further added.
Those giving default dates should be ashamed | Ishaq Dar
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Earlier, Miftah Ismail said that the revival of the IMF loan program is the only solution to prevent Pakistan from facing default. He said that the national economy can only survive two to four months, but it is inevitable to reach out to the IMF.
“It is clear that Pakistan would default without an IMF programme in the last quarter of this financial year, if not by the end of this fiscal year,” Miftah Ismail, who has quit active politics, said.
Read more: Pakistan and the incoming Sovereign Default