Imran Khan’s ‘incompetence, crude IMF deal’ resulted in inflation: Maryam

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior vice president Maryam Nawaz on Thursday held Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan responsible for the inflation, saying that the former premier’s ‘incompetence and crude deal’ with International Monetary Fund (IMF) ‘plunged the country into economic mess’, ARY News reported.

Taking to Twitter, the PML-N chief organiser lambasted the former premier for holding the incumbent government responsible for “the mess created by the latter”.

“Mighty audacious of you [Imran Khan] to criticize those who are undoing your mess created through ruthless plunder, incompetence, misplaced priorities, cruel deal that you struck with IMF and then its breach that plunged the country into economic turmoil”, she wrote on Twitter.

In another tweet, Maryam Nawaz also castigated ‘selectors over this mayhem’, saying: “Let’s not forget to thank all those for this mayhem who handpicked and fed you for four years, as well as the remnants of their influence in the judiciary that you are now banking on.”

Earlier in the day, former premier and PTI chairman Imran Khan lambasted the government over Rupee devaluation, saying that the Pakistani rupee lost over 62 percent or 110/$ in past 11 months.

“This has increased public debt alone Rs14.3 [trillion] and historic 75 [years] high inflation 31.5 percent. Pakistanis paying heavy price of regime change conspiracy where a bunch of criminals have been imposed upon nation by [former] COAS,” he wrote on Twitter.

Rupee devaluation

The Pakistani rupee’s value declined sharply in interbank trading with the local currency falling by Rs19.98 against the US dollar.

According to forex dealers, the local currency closed at Rs285.09 in the interbank market against USD. In the open market, the greenback was traded at Rs290, said forex dealers. The local unit closed at 266.11 in the interbank the other day.

Analysts attributed the downtrend to the delay in signing the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the impending policy rate hike by the central bank.

Monetary Policy

Earlier in the day, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) raised the monetary policy rate by 300 basis points to 20per cent.

“This decision reflects deterioration in inflation outlook & its expectations amid recent external and fiscal adjustments. MPC believes this outlook warrants a strong policy response to anchor inflation expectations around the medium-term target of 5-7 percent,” the statement said.

“MPC noted that reduction in CAD is important but requires concerted efforts to improve the external situation. It emphasized that any significant fiscal slippage would undermine monetary policy effectiveness in the context of achieving the price stability objective,” the SBP added.

Inflation

A day earlier, it was reported that consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation clocked in at 31.5% on a year-on-year basis in February 2023 compared to an increase of 27.6% in the previous month and 12.2% in February 2022

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), on a month-on-month basis, it increased to 4.3%.

“CPI inflation General increased to 31.5% on year-on-year basis in Feb 2023 as compared to an increase of 27.6% in the previous month and 12.2% in Feb 2022,” said the PBS. At 31.5%, this is the highest YoY inflation since data is available – July 1965.