ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Brushing aside the claim of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) including his own party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Zubair has clarified that Pakistan wasn’t at the risk of default when the vote of no confidence was moved in the Parliament against Prime Minister Imran Khan on March 08, 2022.
Talking to anchorperson Maria Memon in the ARY News Programme “Sawal Yeh Hai”, Muhammad Zubair said that from August 2021 to February 2022, the exchange rate in the Interbank Market was in the mid-170s which “was more or less stable”.
While, he added, reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan only were US$ 16 billion to US$ 17 billion which “were, though no big enough, but comfortable”.
رہنما PMLN محمد زبیر کے مطابق فروری 2022 میں ملک میں ڈیفالٹ کا کوئی خطرہ نہیں تھا! VONC کے نتیجے میں حکومت لینے کے پانچ ماہ بعد پی ڈی ایم اتحاد حکومت dissolve کر کے الیکشن کرانے جا رہا تھا، شہباز شریف کی تقریر تیار تھی، الیکشن میں جانے کا مطلب تھا کہ سب جانتے تھے کہ default نہیں… pic.twitter.com/oWr8hlGw8d
— Maria Memon (@Maria_Memon) January 22, 2024
Muhammad Zubai – who also served as the 29th Governor of Sindh from February 02, 2017 to August 03, 2018 in PML-N government – categorically said that at that time, there was no risk of the Country’s defaults but once the PDM government took over in April 2022, afterward the foreign exchange reserves started going downhill and dropped to even below than US$ 3 billion.
It’s worth noting that multi-party alliance PDM including PML-N concocted a false narrative that they sacrificed their politics for the Country’s sake as according to them, the Country had reached the brink of default when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was in power.
However, apart from Muhammad Zubair bringing the truth to surface now, even the official statistics suggest that the PDM leadership have consistently been lying to the nation, and in fact, when they tabled the no confidence motion, the Country’s economic situation was very much stable, and there was no risk of default.
Also Read: Did really PTI put Pakistan on the verge of default?
The statistics reveal that the State Bank of Pakistan’s reserves were well over US$ 16.3 billion while the total liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the Country stood at over US$ 22.6 billion in the end of February 2022.
Later, by early February 2023 when the PMD had been in the government for 10 months, the Central Bank’s reserves had shrunk to US$ 2.9 billion.
Likewise, the value of US dollar was Rs 178.61 against the Pak Rupee on March 08, 2022, the day when the Parliament was moved to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan from the Office.
 including his own party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Zubair has clarified that Pakistan wasn’t at the risk of default when the vote of no confidence was moved in the Parliament against Prime Minister Imran Khan on March 08, 2022.){kind=link}