Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that general elections will be held in 15 months, and the coalition government will try to manage the ongoing economic crisis in the meantime.
The prime minister made these remarks while giving an interview to Turkish state-television TRT, during his three-day official visit to Ankara.
“My vision is to rebuild Pakistan and try my best to decrease poverty and cut the budget of the government sector to ensure austerity,” he said.
Shehbaz said that short term solutions would be devised by his government in order to temporarily contain the economy amid rising inflation and poverty.
However, he said, if his party were to come to power again, then in that case they would be developing full fledged agenda to properly deal with the issues of unemployment and poverty.
The premier said that he had been forced to increase the prices of petrol and gas due to a global increase in the price of fuel.
On Thursday, the government increased the price of petrol for the second time, much to the dismay of the citizens. The move came as the result of agreements made with the IMF that had been halted by the previous PTI government.
During the interview the prime minister also talked about the political situation in Pakistan, saying that the passing of the country’s first-ever successful vote of no confidence was a ‘quantum jump’ forward.
On the topic of Pak-Turkey relations, he recommended the strengthening of trilateral agreements between Pakistan, Turkey and China, recommending that Turkey also join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
