Former finance minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shaukat Tarin lost his cool on Saturday when he responded to a government allegation about PTI’s plan to scuttle a deal between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Shaukat said PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi must stop giving out treason certificates.
“I am not a traitor,” he said, adding that he left a job at an international company in Thailand where he received Rs5 million monthly salary – to come work for the Pakistan government at a meager salary of Rs75,000.
The former finance minister also reminded that he had left the post after a conflict of interest emerged.
Shaukat stressed that there is a need to respect freedom of dissent alongside recognizing freedom of speech in a democracy.
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Inflation:
Speaking about the economy, the former finance minister said, “Consumer pricing index stands at 27.3%, which stood at 8.4% last August.”
He also noted that the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) currently stands at 45.5% sans flood factoring, “Which was 15.7% last year.”
While highlighting the increase in electricity prices, Shaukat said that “electricity was at around Rs16 per unit last year which is now at Rs38.”
“If you include other adjustment charges, the per unit cost soars to nearly Rs50 per unit.”
The former finance czar also predicted a 53% increase in the price of gas.
He lamented that when the budget was presented this year, the government had claimed that the inflation rate would hover around 11.5% and now they have revised it to stand between 20-26%.