One year in power: PM Sharif recounts efforts to revive economy, bring stability

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a series of tweets on Tuesday recounted his government’s efforts during the past one year to revive the economy and bring some relief to the inflation-hit masses.

Since the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government took over a year ago, a number of steps have been taken to correct the wrongs done by the previous regime, he said.

“Today marks the completion of one year since I took oath as PM of a coalition government. This has been a time of massive challenges & difficulties. Here’s my perspective on this year,” said the prime minister in a tweet.

In another tweet, he stated that “the passage of no-confidence vote against Imran Niazi’s government was unprecedented not because PDM came into power but because almost all of Pakistan’s political forces came together to use the forum of the Parliament to vote out an unpopular government through constitutional means.”

Last year, on April 9 the then Prime Minister Imran Khan had lost a vote of no-confidence after 174 members of the National Assembly voted against him. In order to hold the office of the Prime Minister, one needs to secure the majority vote in the 342-member National Assembly (i.e. 172). Subsequently, Shehbaz Sharif the then opposition leader replaced Imran Khan as the new prime minister.

This represented a major step forward in the country’s political evolution, the prime minister held.

On the economic front, the prime minister said: “Despite the economic landmines laid by Imran and disruptions in global fuel and food supply lines, Pakistan’s economy has continued to stay afloat.”

‘Default’ a false alarm

While commenting on the rival politicians’ claims that Pakistan was marching on a path of default, he said, “All predictions of default have turned out to be false alarms. Sincere efforts are underway to revive the economy.”

The coalition government had been at pains to repair, rebuild and deepen Pakistan’s diplomatic relations that were dealt a severe blow by the previous regime, said the prime minister.

Unprecedented floods

The prime minister said Pakistan faced with unprecedented floods last year and “the decisiveness with which the government undertook rescue, relief & rehabilitation efforts, provided social protection to millions of people & mobilized international community has been acknowledged by the world as outstanding.”

Steps to diversify energy mix

The PM stated that in the last one year, the government has made efforts to diversify the energy mix with an aim to provide relief to the citizens. The renewed focus on solar, hydel, and coal power projects is aimed at replacing the costlier sources of power generation with cheaper ones.

He noted that Inflation has hit people hard due to geo-strategic rivalries, increase in prices of fuel and food commodities and historic floods are some of the key factors responsible for inflation.

Social safety net and targeted subsidies

The government, mindful of inflation and its impact, has expanded the social safety net and provided targeted subsidies to the public. The prime minister has blamed ‘geo-strategic rivalries, increase in prices of the fuel & food commodities & historic floods are some of the key factors responsible for inflation.”

Out of FATF grey list

He also pointed out that under the PDM’s leadership, Pakistan managed to exit the FATF grey list, “thanks to the excellent inter-ministerial coordination as well as support extended by our military leadership.”