Shehbaz Sharif terms dollar upsurge against rupee a sign of 'economic disaster'

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Mian Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday termed the alarming upsurge of the value of the US dollar against the rupee a sign of "economic devastation".

"Significant fluctuations in the rupee-dollar parity are owing to the lack of a sound economic policy in the country," he said in a statement.

پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن) کے صدر اور قائد حزب اختلاف شہبازشریف کا ڈالر کی تاریخی بلندی کو معاشی تباہی کے طوفان کی علامت قرار دے دیا

ڈالر کی تاریخی بلندی اور روپے کی گرتی قدر ملک میں حکومت اور درست معاشی پالیسی نہ ہونے کا ثبوت ہے

— PML(N) (@pmln_org) November 27, 2021

The Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly said when the finance ministry refutes the statement of its adviser and "false data" is released, then the "economy collapses like this".

While a record-high trade deficit is a "dangerous sign of economic catastrophe in the country", a historic high current account deficit is "evidence of economic misdirection", he said.

Shahbaz further highlighted that public debt, inflation, current account deficit, rupee-dollar parity have all surpassed previous negative records. 

"If a people-chosen government was in power, this would not have been the case," he said.

Warning that the country has been pushed into an "economic abyss", he said that "if nothing is done soon, recovery will become another impossible thing".

The PML-N president said "doomsday-like" inflation would grip the country from December 1, as the dollar hike was "adding fuel to the fire of inflation".

"Economic devastation" is like a "poison" for a nuclear powered Pakistan, the PML-N president said, pleading the government to "open its eyes".

He said that the economic catastrophe currently prevailing in the country will create such a situation where everybody will forget about other issues, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Shehbaz said Pakistan's patriotic elements must think about the economic devastation the country is hurtling towards, adding time was passing us by very quickly.