The federal government has decided to raise the price of petrol by another Rs30, taking it to highest ever Rs209 per litre, to meet the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demands.
The federal finance minister Miftah Ismail on Thursday night announced that the federal government has decided to raise the prices of petroleum besides ending the tax amnesty for construction sector announced by last PTI government.
The new price of petrol, after the latest hike, will be at Rs209.86, diesel at Rs204.15, kerosene oil at Rs181.94 and light diesel at Rs178.31, he announced and the new prices will come into effect from midnight tonight.
The Finance minister said that the government is still facing a loss of around Rs9 in petrol despite a hike of Rs30 as we are not collecting any tax on the fuel.
He said that government will reach an agreement with IMF in June and we are making negotiations with lender on daily basis.
IMF had demanded to withdraw subsidies on petrol and electricity, he added.
Miftah also said that government will have to end the subsidies announced by last government however he claimed that government will not impose any new tax in next year budget.
Miftah also said that PTI government took huge loan in last four years comparable to loan taken by successive governments in last 71 years.
He also said that government will not increase tax on salaried class in next budget.
Finance minister said that Pakistan has also requested to IMF for extension in program and the lender is agreed as Pakistan will start repaying the IMF loan from next year so it’s important to us to be in program.
In one question, he said that the one month expenditure of government is Rs40 billion and if we minimized the expenditure then we can reduce just Rs4 billion.
He again reiterated that government will not impose any new tax in June and government of Pakistan cannot sell the petrol in loss.
Finance minister said that Hammad Azhar wrote a letter to Russia and when Imran khan returned back to Pakistan they wrote a letter for asking gas as well as wheat on discount but Russian never replied so far.
Pakistan would be open to buy Russian oil at cheaper rates if the opportunity arises, provided that no sanctions are imposed because of the deal, he maintained.
This Govt must be changed, they are not capable to work on pressure
That is not good that oil prices are increasing
What exactly did the IMF demand? All I see is the government blaming everybody other than themselves.