KARACHI: Reacting to the gas price hike, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the current government seemed completely clueless about the economy. “This government has no sense of direction when it comes to the economy. Those who claimed that they will break the begging bowl and announced that they will not go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are now asking for the biggest loan in Pakistan’s history,” remarked Bilawal Bhutto. The PPP chairman added that the PPP government faced the worst economic crisis when it came to power but ‘we still managed to keep the inflation rate low as the PPP does not believe in putting the poor at risk.’ “The current government has given us nothing but inflated prices of basic necessities. Global oil prices were at $148 per barrel but we did not increase prices,” Bilawal Bhutto asserted. Bilawal questioned this government’s intentions as, according to him, the only thing the PTI government had done was to make people’s lives more difficult. “Those who claimed that they will give relief to the nation are actually snatching away the rights if the poor people. It is apparent that the ‘Prime Minister (PM) Select’ has done no homework,” he said. Chairman Bilawal Bhutto cautioned that the government’s current policies could lead to an economic meltdown as there was a probability that inflation rates could go up to 14 percent. He said that Imran Khan’s ‘Naya Pakistan’ was turning out to be a nightmare for the people of Pakistan. “This government has promised to build five million homes but it seems as if they will take away everything from the poor,” he said. Published in Daily Times, October 21st 2018.