New IPPs agreement will help save Rs 800 billion: Dr Hafeez Shaikh
New IPPs agreement will help save Rs 800 billion: Dr Hafeez Shaikh
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Federal Minister for Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has said the new IPP agreements will help the country save Rs 800 billion. He said the government will be paying Rs 450 billion in the form of past bills.
In an exclusive interview with Dunya News program ‘Dunya Kamran Khan Kay Saath’, the Finance Minister said that the gross domestic product of the country increased in the 60’s but the development in that era benefited a certain class and was unsustainable. The benefits of increase in the country’s income must trickle down to the general income as well, we want sustainable and equal development for all classes.
In response to another question, he said that the government had doubled the budget for the welfare of the general public. The volume of subsidies is more than a thousand billion rupees and they are targeted at the general public. In the Ehsaas program, 15 million families were given money in a transparent manner.
Abdul Hafeez Sheikh said that a country cannot prosper without earning dollars. The previous government deliberately undervalued the dollar and it proved disastrous.
He said that due to the US dollar being lower, imports increased and caused a deficit of USD 35-40 billion, creating a financial crisis. When the PTI government took over, there was only USD 2 billion in the national exchequer.
In response to another question, he said that the increase in commodity prices was due to course correction of past policies and depends on external factors. He said that 5-800,000 tonnes of sugar is being imported while tea leaves, pulses, cooking oil, petrol, diesel are also being imported.
Regarding agriculture, the federal finance minister said that past governments did not pay any attention to increasing agricultural production. Consumption of wheat is 29 million tonnes while production is only 27 million tonnes.
Replying to another question, Hafeez Sheikh said that water use in agriculture needs to be improved and the quality of agricultural batches has to be enhanced. He said that a major meeting regarding agriculture will be held at PM House on Monday and decisions to increase agricultural production will be made.
He said that federal ministers, as well as the army, reduced or froze their expenses. The government is neither borrowing from the SBP nor taking supplementary grants. It is subsidizing 72% of electricity usage, 92% of gas usage and 100% of tube wells.
"There is a lot of focus on the power sector," he said. The impact of the measures in the energy sector will be visible in 9 to 12 months. A new agreement is going to be signed with 53 IPPs, which will be approved by the cabinet in 10 days.
The federal finance minister said that the new agreement of IPPs would give benefit of Rs 800 billion. IPPs are going to be given Rs 450 billion in past bills in the form of two installments; 40% of the amount will be given immediately while the remaining 60% will be given in August.
