Rumour mills: enough is enough

Shehla Subhan

Lahore

Not only has finance minister Ishaq Dar firmly rejected all speculations about the state of country’s economy, planning minister Ahsan Iqbal has also dismissed sovereign default risk rumours with utter vehemence. It is needless to say that such wild speculations and rumours are eroding investor confidence in particular. The finance minister has made it clear that Pakistan had never defaulted on its international payments except once on a small transaction of US insurance company in 1971 when East Pakistan seceded from West Pakistan. The minister has added that Pakistan would surely make payment in the first week of December 2022 on its sovereign Sukuk Bond of $ 1 billion.

The incumbent government, which came to power in April this year, has found itself in subject of malicious, unfounded rumour-mongering. It is quite unfortunate that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rumour mill has gone into overdrive in recent days and weeks. It is, however, interesting to note that the government, too, has turned towards rumour-mongering to break PTI’s long march. All those who have been spreading rumours are requested to give us a break. Enough is enough.