Islamabad: Cash-strapped Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is being badly trolled for his remarks that if Allah can create Pakistan, he can also make it prosper. Ishaq Dar’s remark, at a time when the country is grappling with a severe economic crisis and food shortage, has evoked intense criticism from different quarters. Dar, who was addressing an event in Pakistan, triggered the controversy by saying that his country was created in the ''name of Islam'' and that it is the ''responsibility of Allah'' to make it prosperous.  


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According to Dawn, the senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Green Line Express Train service here said that he had full faith that Pakistan would progress because it was created in the name of Islam.


"If Allah can create Pakistan then He can also protect, develop, and make it prosper," Dar said. The Finance Minister said, "they are trying their best to improve Pakistan's condition under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's leadership".


 



 


Dar reiterated the incumbent government inherited several problems from the previous government led by Imran Khan, adding, the government was working day and night. "The team is trying to improve the situation ahead of the elections."


He said the country is still suffering due to the "drama" that started five years ago and insisted that the economy was strong during former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's tenure from 2013-2017.


Dar claimed that Pakistan Stock Exchange was the best-performing capital market in South Asia and ranked fifth in the world during Nawaz Sharif's era and the sights of the world institutions were set on it. Dar said that Pakistan was now paying the price for the "Panama drama", the ouster of the PML-N government, and similar issues it faced over the last five years. "Pakistan was on the growth track during Nawaz's tenure, but it was derailed," he said.


Pakistan FM's comments drew sharp criticism online as netizens blasted him for failing to curb the economic crisis in the country.   


 



 



 



 


Pakistan's Balance of Payment Crisis


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 secured a USD 6 billion IMF bailout in 2019. It was topped up with another USD 1.1 billion in 2022 to help the country following the unprecedented floods. But the IMF suspended disbursements in November due to Pakistan's failure to make more progress on fiscal consolidation amidst political turmoil in the country.


Meanwhile, spelling more trouble, the Pakistani currency recently shed 24.11 in the interbank market, falling as low as Rs 255.43 to the dollar. The 9.6 per cent decline is the second-biggest drop in a single session.