Today, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail began his press conference with accusing PTI government and claimed, “Imran Khan left Pakistan economy at the verge of default.” On the positive side, he said that a downward trend is observed in the price of brent crude in the international market and government will take advantage of it for providing relief to the inflation-affected masses.
Read more: Pakistan’s inflation reaches an all time high
He stated that once the international price of oil falls below a certain threshold, the state will buy cheap fuel for the country. He mentioned that the recent hikes in fuel prices were essential protect the nation from going into default.
He criticized the former government and highlighted that four of the largest budget deficits in Pakistan were noted during their tenure.
He also blamed that Imran Khan kept on taking loans for the sake of self-sustainability. Side by side, he admitted that Pakistan currently has a weak financial position. In an attempt to revive sustainability in Pakistan, the current regime has announced a historic budget with a focus on progressive taxation system.
Read more: PTI govt collects highest revenue in history
Miftah continued to highlight the achievements of current regime by mentioning that the initiatives taken by them for preventing default have aided in bringing the rupee to 207 against the US dollar.
However, the rupee had closed at 211.93 against the US dollar on Wednesday. However, it appeared to improve on Thursday in intra-day trading in the inter-bank market.
Moreover, he said that current government reduced sugar price to Rs70 per kg and flour price to Rs40 per kg. While the former government in nearly 4 years could not lower sugar price and PMLN government did so in two months. He added that in order to deal with the rising trend in ghee price and to cope with its scarcity in the local market, they have started inward deliveries of the product from abroad.
Regarding the IMF talks about revival of its bailout program, Miftah shared that the lender had agreed the Rs112 billion primary surplus target presented in budget 2022-23. Also, he announced that the country would receive $2.3 billion loan from China by Monday.