KARACHI  -  Blasting the PTI government over its economic policies, PML-N leader and former Sindh governor Mohammad Zubair on Wednesday said the total debt of Pakistan for the first in the country’s history was more than the national GDP (gross national product) after an increase of Rs14 trillion in the past two years.

“Our total debt was always less than our GDP. When PML-N left in 2018, it was only 73 percent of GDP. The situation dramatically changed because of PTI’s poor performance,” he said.

Zubair, who has recently been appointed as a spokesperson of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, added, “Debt now stands at 107 percent of GDP - serious signs of a collapsing economy under Imran Khan. How will we ever pay?” In a series of tweets, he said, “In the first 71 years, total debt was 30 trillion rupees. But in just 2 years of Khan’s disastrous economic mismanagement, we have added 15 trillion of debt.”

Addressing Prime Minister Imran Khan, the PML-N asked whether he could “go on the container” and explain where exactly this huge amount had gone. “Who is now looting and plundering?” He also ridiculed Imran for his understanding of basic economic management and said the surplus in the current account had been achieved only through curtailing imports which wasn’t the best way.

Zubair noted that the exports were down from where the PML-N had left. Tax collection had suffered cause of the current policy with the GDP also reduced to $315 billion to $260 billion. The spokesperson for Nawaz and Maryam, said, “Imran and his incompetent economic team do not realise the downside of this policy to curtail imports.”