Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday strongly criticized the government’s Economic Survey, claiming it misrepresented key economic indicators and was entirely dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
At a joint press conference at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, Opposition Leader Omar Ayub, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram, and MNA Mubeen Arif Jutt accused the government of presenting a manipulated document.
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Citing media reports, they said poverty had jumped from 35% to 45%, with nearly 30 million people now living below the poverty line. Omar Ayub likened the survey to “Form 47,” implying manipulated data like the disputed election forms, and added that purchasing power had collapsed, with incomes effectively halved due to inflation.
Ayub noted that wheat prices had surged by 50% over three years, while most development funds remained unused. Waqas Akram criticized the government’s handling of agriculture, pointing out that no natural disasters could explain its collapse, despite 37% of the population relying on it.
He also highlighted flawed data collection methods, such as including rooftop solar generation in electricity growth statistics, and mentioned that three million Pakistanis had left the country in recent years.
Calling the survey a product of IMF pressure, the PTI leaders demanded accountability and urged the government to stop masking failures with superficial data.
