Miftah Ismail says total debt of the country from 1947 to 2018 was Rs 25,000 billion, whereas PTI Govt added Rs 20,000 billion to it
ISLAMABAD, April 20 (SABAH):Federal cabinet has approved reduction in prices of sugar and flour for provision of relief to people during Ramazan.
This was stated by Minster for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb while briefing media persons along with Minister for Finance Dr. Miftah Ismail Ahmedat National Press Club Islamabad about the decisions taken in the federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The Information Minister said the Prime Minister’s direction for price reduction of 10 kilogram flour pack from 550 rupees to 400 rupees during Ramazan was accorded approval. She said the subsidized flour will be available everywhere in Punjab. She said reduction in sugar price from 80 rupees per kilogram to 70 rupees per kilogram at utility stores during Ramazan was also approved.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said directions have been given to ensure provision of sugar and flour across the country. She said Punjab Government will supply flour to Gilgit-Baltistan. She said supply of flour to Azad Kashmir will be a gift from Punjab Government. The Minister said the foremost priority of the coalition government is revival of economy.
Answering question, Marriyum Aurangzeb said a cabinet committee under the chairmanship of Law Minister Senator Chaudhry Azam Nazeer Tarar has been constituted to review Exit Control List law and will submit its report to the cabinet in three days. She further said that Rai Muhammad Tahir has been appointed as Director General Federal Investigation Agency. alking about poor performance of the previous PTI government, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said fiscal deficit remained 1,600 billion rupees per annum on average during the last government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, while the Imran Khan led-government took this figure to around 5,600 billion rupees. He said total debt of the country from 1947 to 2018 was 25,000 billion rupees, whereas PTI Government added 20,000 billion rupees to this debt in just three and half years.
Regarding power outages in the country, the Finance Minister said power plants with a capacity of 7,500 megawatts of electricity are lying closed due to inaptness and incompetence of the previous government.
Commenting on shortage of fertilizers, he said unfortunately agri-inputs and wheat were smuggled to other countries, causing shortage of the commodity in the country. He said the government has decided to constitute a commission to investigate smuggling of fertilizers.
About the IMF programme, Miftah Ismail said he expressed the belief that he will successfully get this programme revived today. He said it is top priority of the government to put least burden on the common man, while reviving the IMF programme. He said the government is determined to bring budget discipline and present a pro-people budget to provide maximum relief to the masses. He said depreciation in rupee value will not be allowed and inflation will be brought under control.
Miftah Ismailrecounted the economic “failures” of the PTI government that he said were the core reasons for hampering the growth of the country in the last three years.
The minister said the new government would revive an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, adding that his meeting with the IMF team would be held very soon. He hinted that the government could curtail spending on the public sector development programme to reinitiate the IMF programme. – SABAH
