Previous govt deliberately created economic crisis: expert

ISLAMABAD: Renowned economic expert, Dr Ashfaq Hassan, said on Sunday the economic crisis the country had to face was deliberately orchestrated by the previous government.

In an interview, he said when the political party leading the government in 2017 realised that it would not come to power due to Panama Leaks, it deliberately made the economic situation worse.

Ashfaq Hassan said he had written in an article published in Dec 2017 in an English language magazine that the way the economic situation was being aggravated, it seemed that the country was being pushed towards International Monetary Fund (IMF), adding that Panama leaks had already surfaced at that time.

"I am not any political person. I think that the government of that time had come under heavy pressure due to Panama," he said, adding that when the Panama trial was going on and the media was giving 24-hour coverage to it, the political party heading the government had realised that it was difficult for it to come to power in the next elections.

So they though that they should make the situation worse to make it hard for the coming government to manage, he added.

He said it was right of the opposition to criticise the government; however, he advised, it was better for it not to speak on economy.

Explaining how that government made things worse, he said that imports of the country, which were around $41 billion till 2015-16, started increasing at fast pace, adding that had that government wished, the surge could have been stopped. He said the government allowed imports of every type of luxury items, which even included food for dogs and cats, shampoos, cheese, chocolates, mobile phones and vehicles.

He lamented that at a time when the country was facing balance of payment issues, the vehicles of 2500-CC were being imported. He said that the tax relaxation given by then prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was also a plot that threw out about 0.5 million taxpayers out of the tax net as the exemption was enhanced from Rs0.5 million to Rs1.2 million.

He said the exemption was given to gain popularity, adding that he had raised voice that the country having a low number of taxpayers, numbering around 1.2 to 1.3 million, could not afford this.

The previous government willingly did this wrong with an objective to bring about criticism over the coming government when it enhanced the tax slabs.