ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday shared the words of a renowned writer Ayn Rand eerily prescient of Pakistan’s economy ruled by corrupt and elitist mindset as inherited by the current government.

In her novel “Atlas Shrugged” in 1957, the Russian-American writer and philosopher had said, “When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favours.”

She went on saying in her widely read novel, “When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you – when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed.” The prime minister, whose government inherited Pakistan with a record deficit and foreign loans worth Rs 30,000 billion, the quote on his Twitter handle saying, “This is so apt for the Pakistan inherited by the PTI govt.”

In another tweet, Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday said that he was delighted to launch the National Poverty Graduation Initiative on Friday to provide interest-free loans and skill training to the poorest households. The prime minister said that the National Poverty Graduation Initiative was one of the several initiatives the government would launch this year under its flagship anti-poverty programme Ehsaas.

He said the key aim of the initiative was to lift millions out of poverty by targeting funds, resources and skills training at the most marginalised communities.