ISLAMABAD
\nIn an apparent \u201cU-turn\u201d from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s announcement of an increase in salaries of government employees, former finance minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz\u2019s senior leader Miftah Ismail has said since the salaries were raised a couple of months ago, the government is not raising them again.
\nIn his maiden address as prime minister on the floor of the National Assembly, PM Shehbaz had announced an increase in salaries, pensions and the minimum wage for labourers. He said the PTI-led government left the country\u2019s economy in tatters with the current account deficit and other economic indicators \u201cworsening\u201d.
\nHe announced raising the minimum wage to Rs25,000 and a 10% hike in pensions of retired government employees. Government employees earning less than Rs100,000 would also be given a 10% raise, he added.
\nHowever, in a tweet on Wednesday, Miftah said, \u201cSince fed[eral] govt employees\u2019 salaries were raised a couple of months ago, we are not raising them again,\u201d Miftah wrote on his official Twitter handle, stating that it was not a \u201cU-turn\u201d.
\nMiftah, however, said that the salary issues will be considered in the next budget. \u201cMeanwhile we raised the pensions of retired government employees. I hope this clarifies any confusion,\u201d he added.
\nOn Tuesday, Miftah Ismail said that the country\u2019s economy was badly \u201cdamaged\u201d during the tenure of the PTI-led government which he said piled the public debt to the level of Rs6,400 billion.
\nAddressing a press conference along with other PML-N leaders Musadik Malik and Muhammad Zubair in Islamabad, Ismail accused the previous PTI government of making the lives of the masses miserable through \u201cflawed\u201d economic policies.
\nHe said, the fiscal deficit was hovering at around Rs5,600 billion and if supplementary grants of Rs800 billion were included, the total amount would reach Rs6,400. The PML-N leader elaborated how the illogical decisions by the previous government had resulted in increasing overall debt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD In an apparent \u201cU-turn\u201d from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s announcement of an increase in salaries of government employees, former finance minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz\u2019s senior leader Miftah Ismail has said since the salaries were raised a couple of months ago, the government is not raising them again. In his maiden address as prime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5897],"class_list":{"0":"post-254774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-miftah"},"yoast_head":"\n