Pakistan: Opposition corners Imran Government over claims of improved economy

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 22 : The opposition leaders in Pakistan challenged in the National Assembly on Friday the government's claim regarding improvement in economic indicators and achieving a 5.3 per cent growth rate, besides seeking an investigation into the ongoing campaign in support of the presidential system, a media report said.
Pakistan's Lower House of Parliament witnessed ruckus on a couple of occasions when the opposition tried to interrupt speeches by Ministers, reported Dawn.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal challenged Shah Mehmood Qureshi to have a live debate on TV with him over the economic policies of the previous and present governments. He said the Minister was claiming that there was price hike all over the world, but he did not mention India and Bangladesh where inflation was still in the single digit.
Qureshi in the National Assembly had claimed that the per capita income in Pakistan was at around USD 1,457 which has now jumped to USD 1,666, indicating that the purchasing power of people has also increased considerably.
It came after the 104th meeting of the NAC, chaired by Planning Secretary Abdul Aziz Uqaili, which approved the financial figures after rebasing GDP.
As a result of the rebasing exercise, the growth rate improved from the earlier estimate of 3.94pc to 5.4pc, while the size of the economy rose to USD 346.76 billion from the provisional estimate of USD 296 billion, according to the National Accounts Committee, which approved these figures on Thursday, said Dawn.