Former Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail faces continuous within party criticism on actions taken by him during his stay at office.
Former Minister for Capital Administration and Development Tariq Fazal Chaudhry from PML-N party said in a talk show that Mr. Miftah made some tough yet controversial decisions especially regarding the purchase of petrol at higher prices during his tenure.
He clearly said that Miftah Ismail bought petrol for two months at expensive prices and made a “blunder” that cost 22 million Pakistanis.
Read more: Oil prices fell more than $1 to their lowest
In the meantime, prices for petrol in global market fell but it was already purchased at higher prices.
In response to this, Miftah Ismail retweeted a response given by a Twitter user on this statement.
“Finance Ministry has no say on oil imports and it’s directly imported by refineries,” the tweet read.
He added, “respected PMLN leader needs to educate himself.”
What Hogwash!?,just saw Mr.Tariq F.Choudhary blaming @MiftahIsmail for excessive oil imports at expensive rates!?!, Finance Ministry has no say on oil imports and it’s directed imported by refineries,respected PMLN leader needs to educate himselfhttps://t.co/65qK2ev3RF
— Naveed Jawed Savul (@NaveedSavul) October 4, 2022
In the past, Hammad Azhar began to highlight the inefficiencies of the current government during his press conference. He mentioned that the fuel prices have gone down in international market, but prices in Pakistan are still going up.
He added, “it is obvious that no matter the extent to which the international prices go down, fuel prices will go up in the country due to government’s incompetence.”
Read more: Shedding light on globally falling and nationally rising fuel prices
However, Miftah Ismail continues to claim that the PML-N government has averted default by taking difficult political decisions.
It is pertinent to note that under the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government had to gradually increase PDL on oil products to a maximum of Rs50 to collect Rs855 billion during the current fiscal year.
As soon as Ishaq Dar became the new finance minister, the ministry decided in principle to reduce the price of petroleum products after the IMF agreed to freeze the tax imposed on petrol for three months.