ISLAMABAD    -    Minister for Planning, Develop­ment and Special Initiatives Pro­fessor Ahsan Iqbal on Monday said the incumbent government adopted prudent economic poli­cies and was taking the country towards ‘gradual stabilization’ despite facing multiple challeng­es on different fronts.

“It is the success of the in­cumbent government that it not only faced the climate disaster that caused a $ 30 billion loss to the national exchequer but also managed to take Pakistan to­wards gradual stabilization de­spite the PTI past regime’s failed economic policies and bad gov­ernance,” he said while address­ing a news conference here.

He said that no one was talking about the threat of the country’s default that even the PTI min­isters and officials themselves admitted the national economy was on the verge of collapse, recalling the statements of Im­ran Khan’s handpicked [former]Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, railways minister Sheikh Ra­sheed and FBR chairman Shab­bar Zaidi, besides a number of PTI parliamentarians.

He said it was unfortunate that the PTI tried to blame the one-year-old incumbent government for the increased inflation that occurred due to its own wrong­doings, failed policies and bad governance. The minister said the PTI government, which was forcibly imposed on Pakistan after the 2018 election under a ‘conspiracy,’ had been enjoying absolute rule and ‘spoon-feed­ing’ by the top state institutions during its four-year tenure.

“They (institutions) had been extending all kinds of support to the PTI for keeping its gov­ernment intact and prolonging its rule,” he said, adding Imran Niazi also remained in habit of non-complying with the apex court orders in different cases.