Miftah defends petrol price hike, says no new tax imposed
Business
IMF disbursement will begin shortly after the board meeting is held: Finance Minister
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Tuesday clarified that government has not imposed tax of even a single rupee on petroleum products.
Finance Minister, who faced criticism from within his party as well as other cabinet members for hike in petrol price, defended the decision and said that increase in price will not affect supply and demand cycle.
The Minister said the present government has averted default by taking difficult political decisions and a beginning has been made to put the economy on sound footing.
Criticizing the economic policies of PTI government, the Finance Minister said they left behind 10.3 billion dollars in foreign reserves and we have to return loan of twenty-one billion dollars during the current fiscal year.
The Finance Minister said prices of petroleum products are determined by OGRA as per a laid down mechanism. He said no additional tax has been imposed on the petroleum prices. He pointed out that price of petrol in India is 303 rupees per liter while in Bangladesh it is being sold at 308 rupees.
Miftah Ismail said that a new letter of intent sent by the IMF will be signed by him today. He was confident that disbursements to Pakistan will start following the IMF’s board meeting by the end of this month.
Responding to a question, the Finance Minister said that twenty-seven billion rupees in taxes will be collected from the traders during the current fiscal year.
