It will help a lot of people after fuel prices dropped on the international market: Miftah
ISLAMABAD – On Wednesday, the Minister of Finance, Miftah Ismail, said that the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be finalised in the next couple of days and that the people will be given relief because the price of fuel on international markets has gone down.
It’s important to note that the price of gasoline on the international market has gone down since it was $125 a barrel two and a half months ago. If this keeps up, the price of gasoline in the country is likely to go down.
Miftah Ismail said on a state TV show that the country would have gone bankrupt if there were subsidies on oil products. He also said that the government’s top priority was to keep Pakistan from going into default.
The minister said that the government made all the hard decisions to avoid going bankrupt. He also said that Imran Khan announced a subsidy on petroleum products when he realised that his government’s time was coming to an end. The previous government, on the other hand, used NAB laws against political opponents. “The country’s inflation went up because Imran Khan’s government is incompetent,” he said.
The minister went on to say that the PTI government signed an agreement with the IMF and then broke the agreement. He also said that the many things the previous government did increased the current account deficit. “As soon as we took power, we regulated the prices of food items,” he said. The PTI exported sugar for Rs 48 and brought it in for Rs 96, while the rich had to pay the super tax.
Oil prices keep going down.
On Wednesday, fears that a possible recession would cut demand for oil caused world oil prices to plummet. Brent crude fell below $100 per barrel.
Brent North Sea, which is Europe’s benchmark crude contract, fell 3.3% to $99.39 per barrel around mid-afternoon. WTI oil, which is the US benchmark, also fell 3.3% to $96.12.
Prices had already gone down by Tuesday, when WTI broke through the important $100 level, because people were worried that a slowing global economy would hurt demand for oil products.
Citi analysts think that Brent could reach $65 later this year if the global economy stays weak for a long time.
