ISLAMABAD: Shaukat Tarin, the advisor to the PM on finance and revenue, on Friday lost his cool with reporters who repeatedly asked questions about rising inflation during a press conference in Islambad.

He also said that journalists should have "raised hands" when the former PTI Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in March this year and accepted tough conditions.

Tarin, who took over in April, has said in the past that he had to re-negotiate some of the terms with the IMF.

"At that time hands were not raised the way you are raising now," he told journalists. "You should have done that back then."

"Now when they have tied our hands," he said crossing his wrists, "and have left, you come to me to argue." 

Tarin told one of the journalists off for "arguing" with him when the reporter grilled the advisor on chicken prices. "I will provide you a chart," he said.

The advisor to the PM also advised the urban lower middle class to have some patience amid rising inflation.

He said the government was trying to provide subsidies through the Ehsaas programme and the Kamayab Jawan programme.

The advisor defended the use of the catchphrase "Ghabrana Nahi Hai" introduced by Prime Minister Imran Khan.