Tahirul Qadri's statement on rise in foreign loans baseless: Ishaq Dar

ISLAMABAD: (Dunya News) – Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has termed the allegation by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr. Tahirul Qadri about 5500 billion dollars increase in Pakistan’s foreign loans as baseless. He said that the allegation was false and baseless. He said that the government was rather trying to bring the high interest rates on foreign loans down.

Responding to Tahirul Qadri’s allegation today (Saturday), Ishaq Dar said that it was baseless to say that there was increase in Pakistan’s foreign loans worth 550 billion dollars since the current government took over. He told that the volume of foreign loans at the time of government takeover was Rs. 14,500 billion while there was no serious increase in the loans during last one year. He said that the government was pursuing a policy of bringing the high interest rates down on foreign loans.

Earlier, a meeting to examine the progress on the Diamir-Bhasha Dam was presided over by the Finance Minister. Ishaq Dar informed that the government will start work on both Diamir-Bhasha and Dasu dams.

Ishaq Dar directed the Ministry of Water and Power to expedite work on new hydel power policy so that foreign investors can be charmed into investing on these projects. He told that the expensive thermal production will be minimized gradually.