Imran always wished for Pakistan to default: Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly criticised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan over his comments about the economy, saying the latter's "understanding of the economy and the broader environment in which it operates is quite limited".

"(Khan) also conveniently forgets his own role in deepening economic challenges. From scrapping the IMF (International Monetary Fund) deal, he has always wished Pakistan to default. This is in addition to the adverse impact his politics of non-stop agitation, long marches, and dharna has had on the economy in terms of causing political instability," Sharif said in a tweet.

His comments came hours after Khan claimed that the economy was in a "freefall" due to the policies of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government, Geo News reported.

Pointing to the widening gap between the interbank and open markets, Khan said the "dollarisation of economy" meant that there is no local or foreign investment.

"The question is, how on earth is the Pakistani establishment allowing the country to head towards a complete economic meltdown?"

Responding to his predecessor's claims, Sharif said Khan had "deliberately created an unstable environment" for investors, especially after the days-long violent riots that erupted after the PTI chief's arrest on May 9 in which public and private properties in several cities were damaged, Geo News reported.

"The terrible events of May 9 alone have cost the economy billions of rupees and are an irrefutable endorsement of his nefarious designs. This is not to mention the plethora of corruption cases he is involved in," the Prime Minister said.

While acknowledging that Pakistan continues to face economic challenges, the Sharif said the country had already passed the "doomsday scenario".