LAHORE
\nLeader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the record trade deficit of over $5 billion recorded this month (December) showed that the country had \u2018collapsed\u2019 economically.
\nIn a statement, Shehbaz Sharif said that the trade deficit of over $20 billion just in the first five months of the current financial year (FY) was a clear-cut proof of an imbalance between the country\u2019s imports and exports.
\nHe went on to say that the fresh statistics showed that the US dollar was exerting pressure on Pakistani rupee, thus causing the latter\u2019s price to plummet further.
\n\u201cNow each dollar is equal to Rs180; inflation is increasing by the day, which is not a good sign for the country at all,\u201d he remarked.
\n\u201cThe country, instead of moving forward, is going backwards. The economy is in reverse gear,\u201d Shehbaz said, and added that the levy of 17 percent additional general sales tax (GST) on different items recently will further increase the price hike.
\n\u201cElsewhere in the world, the GST is slashed to keep inflation at bay,\u201d the PML-N president said, and regretted that here, unfortunately, opposite was the case. He asked the government to quit rather than playing with the nation\u2019s future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the record trade deficit of over $5 billion recorded this month (December) showed that the country had \u2018collapsed\u2019 economically. In a statement, Shehbaz Sharif said that the trade deficit of over $20 billion just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[651,362,1998,361],"class_list":{"0":"post-234417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-economy","9":"tag-pmln","10":"tag-reverse-gear","11":"tag-shehbaz-sharif"},"yoast_head":"\n