Rs638.276 million spent on PM Nawaz's foreign trips

Pakistan

Rs638.276 million spent on PM Nawaz's foreign trips

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spent a whopping Rupees 63.8 crore on his foreign trips and living at least every fifth day of his tenure out of the cash-strapped country.

The information was provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the National Assembly on a question asked by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Imran Zafari Laghari. 

The ministry in its written response stated that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has spent a total of 185 days abroad in 65 foreign tours with accompanying staff of 631 officers.

Sharif came to power in June 2013 and has been regularly going abroad, despite growing criticism by opposition and media.

In stark contrast to his stay abroad during his tenure, Sharif visited the National Assembly just 35 times during his 940 days in power.

According to the data provided the National Assembly, the Prime Minister visited Britain 17 times, spending about two months in the UK, of which 32 days were listed as official stay while 24 were listed as transits.

However, during each transit, Sharif stopped for at least a couple of days which cost the exchequer Rs13.78 crore.

After the UK, he spent most of his time in the US, visiting the country for 18 days and also visited Saudi Arabia five times, followed by the US and China which he visited four times. Turkey was another favoured destination which he visited at least once every year.

REPORT SUBMITTED BY THE FOREIGN MINISTRY: 

Pakistan has received a slew of loans from international lenders to improve its economic condition.

The World Bank approved a USD 500 million loan to Pakistan for energy sector reform last year. International Monetary Fund (IMF) also agreed to grant USD 502 million to the country under a bailout package arrangement.

The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank decided to give USD two billion to Pakistan for energy sector reforms under a medium-term programme, which was part of USD 10 billion that the international lenders had agreed to provide over a period of three years.