Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday, 9 December urged the Pakistani diaspora to emulate overseas Indians and Chinese who have invested heavily in their motherland while assuring them a corruption-free environment to boost the cash-strapped country's economy.
Addressing a ceremony to mark the Anti-corruption Day, Khan said Pakistan was facing an existential threat due to rampant corruption.
He lamented that Pakistani people were unaware of the dire consequences corruption could have on their lives.
"People don't understand the relation between corruption and their lives corruption badly affects them," Khan said.
"Overseas Chinese invested in China, and overseas Indians invested in India; their economies boomed," Khan was quoted as saying by the official Twitter account of the ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
"Overseas Pakistanis are our great asset. I am connected with them. They are reluctant to invest in Pakistan because of corruption and bribery," the prime minister said.
Khan said the corrupt launder their illegal wealth outside the country, which in turn leads to devaluation and rise in inflation.
Taking an apparent jibe at his opponents, Khan said major infrastructure projects like the metro were built not for the people but to take commission and kickbacks.
"President Xi jailed around 500 people of ministerial level this shows he is a real statesman," the report quoted him as saying.
The prime minister lauded the performance of the National Accountability Bureau, saying the anti-graft probe body needs to be appreciated for recovering looted money.
He said that the anti-corruption unit Punjab alone made recoveries worth Rs 132 billion, Geo News reported.
Khan also hailed the Punjab government for launching an anti-corruption app, and for "recovering encroached land worth billions of rupees.
Since assuming power in August 2018, Prime Minister Khan has been appealing to close allies like China and Saudi Arabia to provide loans at lower rates to overcome the financial woes.
Khan's speech came on a day when Pakistan signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank for a loan worth USD 1.3 billion to support the cash-strapped country's public finances and shore up its slowing economy.
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