ANJUM IBRAHIM

Nearly 4pc GDP growth no joke

“So why in the world doesn’t the opposition put up or shut up? A 3.94 percent growth rate during a pandemic year is no joke and…”

“Well, Governor State Bank has been out and about claiming credit.”

“Viola!”

“Excuse me?”

“Credit – SBP let loose cheap credit, like other central banks to deal with the pandemic, and the growth rate that it had stifled with a 13.25 percent discount rate blossomed…”

“Hey we are a nation of forgivers so forgive SBP for it knew not what it did between July 2019 and March 2020 when the discount rate was 13.25 percent…”

“You have begun making some biblical references, I would advise you to be cautious, I mean in this country one has to be very careful, just look at what happened to Shahzad Akbar – the powerful warlord had to get the Lahore police to register a case against a small town Tareen follower…”

“You become a political animal, especially a selected animal you open yourself to such charges in this country. Our defamation laws are great but their implementation is between weak and non-existent…”

“The Central Bank would like you to forget what it did in the first year of the IMF programme …. I mean we belong to a country where the public continues to vote for those who do not deliver and time after time … so live and let live…”

“But surely you know that the rise in money supply has had implications on the inflation rate that continues to push thousands upon thousands below the poverty line?”

“The fault is with the mafia…”

“Ha ha – It is the only non-cricket term that our Prime Minister can relate to.”

“Indeed.”