On Saturday, Minister of Finance Miftah Ismail disclosed that the authorities are prepared to collect $8.9 billion in the spending of funds after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) accepted the $1 billion tranche.
In his statement during a press conference, Miftah Ismail said the IMF would be transferring $3 billion, with an extra fund of $2 billion available if the transfer was delayed. In addition to that, Saudi Arabia has also approved an extension of $3 billion, and more support from the Kingdom will be provided in the month of July, he stated.
In addition to that, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will also be offering $2.5 billion after the initiation of the IMF. Â
Only two days back, it was announced by the Finance Minister that there would be a Rs 30 increase in the price of petrol. It seemed that he hadn’t informed about any more increases on June 1 and also claimed that he would be unaware if the price further increased or not. “I am not sure that the price of gasoline and diesel will increase on June 1,” Miftah Ismail, who was not even sure, claimed.
“We did not increase the prices of fuel willingly and had to decide something in terms of the rise of fuel prices all over the world,” he said in his statement. On the other hand, the Finance Minister refused to accept all the measures that had been taken to increase the price of electricity.
He stated that an agreement between the employees and the IMF will come to a conclusion, which will help to make the economy stable in the month of June.Â
Talking about Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s subsidy announcement yesterday, Miftah Ismail, the Finance Minister, said that people having earnings below the amount of Rs 40,000 are considered eligible for a Rs 2,000 subsidy via the BISP.
He stated that the subsidy will benefit a total of 14 million people, emphasising that those interested in receiving the money should send their NIC number to 786 to register with the BISP. Â Â
