ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has asserted that Pakistan was out of the financial crisis after two hikes in petrol prices, ARY News reported on Monday.
Taking to Twitter, the finance minister pointed out that there was no financial emergency in the country, especially after the two hikes in the price of petroleum products.
Miftah Ismail further said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at some point will announce austerity measures to reduce the government expenditure, as he ruled out any kind of financial emergency in light of the poor economic situation.
The Prime Minister will at some point announce austerity measures to save government expenditures. But there is not going to be any declaration of financial emergency. Nor is there any financial emergency. After two increases in petrol prices, we are out of the financial crisis.
— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) June 6, 2022
In another tweet, the minister wrote: “There is absolutely no plan to freeze foreign currency accounts or Roshan Digital Accounts or take over people private lockers.”
“We have never even contemplated these steps. Nor will we ever do it. Speculation on social media about this is wrong and coming from biased quarters,” Miftah noted.
There is absolutely no plan to freeze foreign currency accounts or Roshan Digital Accounts or take over people private lockers. We have never even contemplated these steps. Nor will we ever do it. Speculation on social media about this is wrong and coming from biased quarters.
— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) June 6, 2022
It is pertinent to mention here that the PML-N-led federal government had increased the price of petrol by Rs60 per litre. Moreover, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) last week raised the basic power tariff by Rs7.9078/kWh for the next fiscal year 2022-23.
Last week, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had also approved an increase in gas prices — a hike of 45% was approved for the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) while 44% for the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).
