LAHORE: PML-N leader and ex-finance minister Ishaq Dar has predicted a ten- to fifteen-year recovery period for Pakistan’s economy.
In a speech on Saturday, Dar added, “There is an economic plan in place to help the people if they choose [PML-N supreme leader] Nawaz Sharif in this election.” Nawaz Sharif was set to return to Lahore after living in exile in London for four years.
Dar told Express News that the last 16 months weren’t spent on economic recovery but rather on preventing a default on Pakistan’s debt. Inflation has skyrocketed since the PML-N led coalition government took office in April last year, following the PTI’s departure from power.
Dar defended the previous PML-N administration, saying it did not let Pakistan turn into another Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka experienced its biggest economic crisis ever in April 2022, when it defaulted for the first time on its foreign debt.
The former finance minister has stated that Nawaz will soon be exonerated and that the cases against him are completely baseless.
The case involving the Panama Papers was merely a drama. According to him, “nothing has been proven” against Nawaz.
In July 2017, due to the Panama Papers case, the Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz from being a member of parliament.
The former prime minister was subsequently found guilty in two separate corruption proceedings in July and December of 2018.
Due to health concerns, the previous PTI administration authorized Nawaz to travel overseas for medical treatment in October 2019. However, the PML-N leader didn’t come back to the country until Saturday, four years after he left.
According to Dar, the ex-prime minister’s trip to London was for medical purposes. “Nawaz Sharif now has no plans to leave the country,” stated the politician.
