Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail revealed on Saturday that the federal government was losing around Rs2,500 million daily due to the economic ‘minefield’ left by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
“At the moment the government is losing Rs21 per litre on petrol and Rs52 per litre on diesel. That’s a loss of Rs3600 crore in 2 weeks or a loss of Rs250 crore per day. This expense is more than the cost of running the entire civilian federal government plus the entire BISP/Ehsaas programme. We simply cannot afford to walk in the minefield PTI has left for us,” the former finance minister said in a series of tweets.
The decision announced last night to continue petrol and diesel subsidies was a tough one and will have to be revisited. At the moment the government is losing Rs 21 per litre on petrol and Rs 52 per litre on diesel. That’s a loss of Rs 3600 crore in 2 weeks 1/n
— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) April 16, 2022
or a loss of Rs 250 crore per day. This expense is more than the cost of running the entire civilian federal government plus the entire BISP/Ehsaas programme. We simply cannot afford to walk in the minefield PTI has left for us. 2/n
— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) April 16, 2022
Miftah added that the decision announced by the government not to change the prices of petroleum products was a tough one and would have to be revisited.
PTI has tied our hands by actually committing in writing that not only will they recover the full cost of fuels but also impose Rs30 per litre levy and 17% sales tax on those fuels. According to PTI commitments, the price of petrol should be Rs236 [per litre] and diesel should be Rs264 [per litre],” the PML-N leader further said.
PTI has tied our hands by actually committing in writing that not only will they recover full cost of fuels but also impose Rs 30 per litre levy and 17% sales tax on those fuels. According to PTI commitments the price of petrol should be Rs 236 and diesel should be 264 3/n
— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) April 16, 2022
