Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif, third left, visits Prophet Muhammad’s mosque in the holy city of Medina in western Saudi Arabia and performs prayers with his delegation late Thursday, April 28, 2022.
Highlights
- Shehbaz Sharif has picked Saudi Arabia for first foreign trip as Pakistan PM
- Sharif would seek to get financial support from Saudi Arabia amid big economic crisis
- Pakistan's economy witnessed huge downfall during Imran Khan's regime
Pakistan economic crisis: Imran Khan took oath as Pakistan Prime Minister on August 11, 2018 after his party won the general elections promising citizens a 'naya Pakistan'. The cricketer-turned-politician was removed from PM's chair following days-long political drama that concluded till midnight of April 9, 2022, when he lost the trust motion in the National Assembly. Between August 2018 to April 2022, the hopes and dreams of 'naya Pakistan' crashed and disintegrated like a meteor.
Imran Khan had promised to transform and free his country of the colossal problem of corruption. However, he not only failed in the objective but pushed Pakistan into a deeper quagmire. The country's economy is on the death bed gasping for oxygen. Inflation hit through the roof during Imran Khan's regime.
Apart from economic troubles, Pakistan's image on the international stage was also dented beyond repair. The situation was so bad that Islamabad's relations with Saudi Arabia, which was considered a close ally till recently, also dumped it.
Shehbaz Sharif's Saudi Arabia visit
Days after dethroning Imran Khan, Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday (April 29, 2022) with a single point agenda - to seek financial support to help his country's sagging economy. Saudi Arabia, where Shehbaz Sharif spent years in exile, had long been a source of support for Pakistan's ailing economy, however things have not been great in the recent past.
ALSO READ: 'Desperate' Imran Khan 'begged' military to save his govt, alleges PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz
As Shehbaz Sharif attempts to reset his ties with Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, let's look at some major points highlighting how bad Pakistan's economic condition is.
- During his regime, Imran Khan drowned the people of Pakistan in a debt of Rs 18 lakh crore. Apart from this, Pakistanis were burdered with loan of Rs 1400 crore per day.
- According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the ousted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government added over PKR 18 trillion to the public debt during its three and a half year stint, the highest liabilities accumulated by any government in the country’s history.
- As of February 2022, Pakistan government's total debt is PKR 42.8 trillion.
- The PTI government added PKR 14.2 billion/day on an average to the public debt against PKR 2.7 billion/day during 2008-18. The total public debt increased by a whopping 73 per cent from September 2018 to February 2022.
When Shah Mahmood Qureshi had offended Saudis by his sitting posture
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, former Pakistan Foreign Affairs Minister and one of Imran Khan's trusted lieutenants, had angered the Saudis when he hosted a meeting in December 2021.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan
A photo of Qureshi sitting with one leg pointing towards Saudi Ambassador Nawaf bin Said al-Malki during their meeting had gone viral. Qureshi's body language and sitting posture was deemed offensive by many Saudis who believed the then minister had 'insulted' their envoy.
This was not the first time that Qureshi had gotten into trouble concerning Saudi Arabia. In 2020, his remarks expressing 'disappointment' at the failure of the Organisation of Islami Cooperation (OIC) to host foreign ministers to meet to discuss the Kashmir issue had almost triggered a diplomatic row.
ALSO READ | Breakthrough in Pakistan-IMF bailout talks as $8bn package approved
