Govt can’t afford to subsidise petroleum products: Miftah Ismail
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Sunday stated that owing to the stipulations set forth for the country by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Government of Pakistan is no longer in a position to afford any petroleum subsidies.
The finance minister used to be requested whether the government was planning to reduce the prices of petrol in the country from August 15 in accordance with the decrease in the international market, and the strengthening of the rupee in opposition to the dollar.
In response, Ismail stated that as per the conditions of the IMF, the country has made preparations to borrow $4 billion from friendly countries. He introduced that the finance ministry will no longer impose any more taxes and levies on petroleum products, however reiterated that the government could not bear any extra losses by means of providing subsidies.
“The IMF has set a condition for us to seek $4 billion worth of loans from somewhere else first earlier than seeking help from the international money lender,” he said, including that the country has successfully managed to get the required loan from some friendly countries.
“We will sign the letter of intent and send it to the IMF by tomorrow,” he advised the host about the document that Pakistan recieved this week.
Answering some other question, the finance minister said that all political parties should sit collectively and hold talks related to the “charter of economy”.
Speaking about the imposition of fixed tax on shops, he stated that he “made a mistake to slap an Rs3,000 tax on small shops. He added that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had imposed a tax worth Rs6,000 as a substitute of Rs3,000.”
