Federal Finance and Revenue Minister Mufta Ismail
The confirmed on Wednesday that Pakistan had requested Saudi Arabia not to withdraw its ₹3 billion reserves given to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Addressing a press conference in Karachi, the federal minister said the government has also requested Saudi Arabia to increase its oil facility to $1.1.2 billion. He said the Saudi government has responded favorably.
Last year, Saudi Arabia deposited ₹3 billion in the State Bank of Pakistan to support its foreign reserves. In addition, Pakistan signed a ₹1.2 billion agreement for the import of petroleum products on deferred payments.
Criticizing the previous government over the deal with the International Monetary Fund, Mufta said that under the agreement, the prices of diesel and petrol would have been very high.
The minister claimed that if the conditions laid down by the PTI government are met today, the price of diesel would be Rs 5.50. 295 per liter rather of the current price. 145 per liter, he said, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif was and is "opposing" these agreements.
He alleged that the Imran Khan-led government had made different promises to people abroad (along with the IMF) by agreeing to completely different terms.
The federal minister also blamed the previous government for mismanagement in the energy sector and said that despite surplus generation capacity, the country was facing load shedding due to the inefficiency of the government, PTI.
He said that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Energy Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan had ended load shedding during the Eid holidays.
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