ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Sunday said that the remarkable gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, achieved by the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, had ‘totally confused’ the opposition parties.
Reacting to a statement of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, he said that the prime minister had steered the country out of a debt-ridden economy and transformed it into an export and production-oriented economy on strong footing. He said that Asif Zardari, and Bilawal Bhutto were recognized for their ‘corrupt practices, fake accounts and money laundering.’
Farrukh Habib said that the Sindh government’s Rs 700 billion projects, which were to be executed during the current fiscal year, could not be spotted on the ground. “Perhaps these schemes are being carried out on some other planet,” he said. He said that the Sindh government should stop getting credit for the projects launched by donor organizations including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
He said that Sindh was the only province where poverty and spread of deadly diseases were on the rise, terming a report appearing in The New York Times about rising cases of AIDS in Larkana, a matter of ‘embarrassment’ for the country. He said when Bilawal Bhutto was asked to take necessary measures for getting rid of stray dogs and locusts in the province, ‘the PPP chairman gave practical demonstration by buying new luxury cars.’
He said that the Sindh government was against the introduction of the Sehat Insaf Cards in the province as it would end its corruption and manipulation in the health sector. He said that 35 percent of the Sindh budget was allocated for health and education sectors, but ambulances and education facilities were being provided by non-governmental organizations.
He said that jobs were being ‘sold in Sindh on fake domiciles’ and residential certificates in ‘connivance with the provincial government.’ He said that there were 190,000 government employees in Karachi alone but not even 15% of them were locals from Karachi. He said that the People’s Party was in power for the third time consecutively in the province but remained unable to set up any emergency service there.
SINDH SITUATION
He said that the mortality rate among five-year children had reached 50 percent in the province due to the stunted growth. Before PPP’s entry into politics, he said that there was no word of ‘corruption’ in the dictionary of the Pakistani people, declaring it a ‘world champion’ in corruption. He said that PPP’s ‘corrupt practices’ had damaged the country’s reputation at world level.
The state minister asked Bilawal Bhutto to name that who was known as Bambino Cinema’s ‘ticket black-marketer’ and ‘Mr 10 percent.’ He said that giving lectures on economy did not suit those who remained indulged in ‘corruption’ and damaged the national economy throughout their life. Due to prudent policies introduced by the federal government, he said the national economy had achieved significant progress as the GDP growth was improving gradually.
He said that the current account stood surplus at one billion dollars during July-April of the current fiscal year, exports increased by 13.5 percent, foreign exchange reserves reached $23 billion and the Roshan Digital Account one billion dollars. Besides, the record remittances of $24 billion poured in, and there was an increase of $2.5 billion in Euro bonds and nine percent in the large scale manufacturing.