Capping dollar rate caused $3bn loss: Miftah Ismail [Post Updated #117]

[MenInG]

The day Pakistan appointed its new finance minister to cope with the challenges – containing rising inflation and navigating through one of the worst external sector crisis, the World Bank on Tuesday reminded the country that 34% of its population was living on just $3.2 or Rs588 a day income.

The Pakistan Development Update – the biannual report issued by the Washington-based lender – also said that soaring inflation disproportionally affected poor and vulnerable households that spend a relatively larger share of their budget on food and energy.

The poor spend around 50% of their total consumption on food items, the World Bank said. It pointed out that Pakistan’s key indicators were further deteriorating in the current fiscal year, seeking urgent measures to tighten the fiscal belt for ensuring debt sustainability.

Poverty measured at the lower middle-income class poverty line of $3.2 Purchasing Power Parity line of 2011 per day was estimated at 34% in the last fiscal year. The ratio was 37% in the preceding year. But despite a nominal reduction, the percentage was significantly higher and it would be a constraint for the new government that was assigned with an uphill task to ensure economic viability of the country.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed Dr Miftah Isamil as the finance minister. Ismail will be assisted by Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha who has been assigned the portfolio of minister of state for finance.

The duo would leave for Washington today (Wednesday) to have their first interaction with the authorities at the US Treasury Department, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

“I am hopeful that I will be able to convince the IMF to revive the programme on terms that also take into account harsh ground realities in Pakistan,” said Ismail.

His one of the most important meetings would be at the US Treasury Department, as the country seeks to repair ties with the world’s largest economy, damaged by immature public statements by former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign affairs minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

READ Govt fully capable of resolving energy crisis: Miftah

But the WB’s Pakistan Development Update report tells what lies ahead for the new finance minister.
The WB cautioned that rising food and energy inflation was expected to diminish the real purchasing power of households, disproportionally affecting poor and vulnerable households that spent a larger share of their budget on these items.

However, with higher inflation, increasing borrowing costs and political uncertainty, business and consumer confidence had been trending lower after reaching a pandemic high in June 2021.

The WB said that the inflation was estimated to rise to an average of 10.7% in fiscal year 2021-22 as against the target of 8%, reflecting higher oil and commodity prices. Headline inflation in Pakistan was the highest in South Asia, where the regional average was 6% during the first half of the current fiscal year. It added energy inflation reached 25.1% on a yearly basis in urban areas and 22.6% in rural areas in the current fiscal year.

Najy Benhassine, the WB country director for Pakistan, said that sustaining the post-Covid economic recovery in the previous fiscal year “requires addressing long-standing structural weaknesses of the economy and boosting private sector investment, exports and productivity”.

The WB report underlined that given the current significant imbalances in the external sector and low external buffers, macroeconomic adjustment, specifically fiscal consolidation to complement ongoing monetary tightening, was urgently needed.

Heightened domestic political uncertainty over the past few months had slowed the implementation of key reforms to improve overall fiscal and debt sustainability. Going forward, further policy reform slippages and delays in adjustment measures were likely to exacerbate the already widening macroeconomic imbalances.

The report noted that public and publicly guaranteed debt stood at Rs45.3 trillion at end-December 2021, an increase of Rs3.1 trillion since end-June 2021. The share of external debt was 37.5% whereas short-term debt was 13%.

Pakistan’s total debt level was in breach of the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act 2005 that stipulated a reduction of total public debt to 60% of the GDP by end-FY18. Moreover, the growing arrears of the power sector and liabilities emanating from commodity operations posed further risks to debt sustainability, the lender warned.

READ Daily loss of Rs2,500m to govt from PTI's economic 'minefield': Miftah

Even at the expanded size of the economy, the WB projected the debt-to-GDP ratio to grow to 76% of the GDP, which otherwise could have been 90% of the GDP had the previous government not revised the base year of the economy.

Strong aggregate demand pressures, in part due to accommodative fiscal and monetary policies, paired with the continued anti-export bias of the national trade tariff structure, contributed to a record-high trade deficit, weighing on the rupee and the country’s limited external buffers.

“To mitigate immediate macroeconomic risks, the government should focus on containing the fiscal deficit at a level which ensures debt sustainability, closely coordinate fiscal and monetary policy, and retain exchange rate flexibility,” Zehra Aslam, the lead author of the report, said.

The fiscal deficit was projected to widen slightly to 6.3% of GDP in FY22, on the back of higher spending on Covid-19 vaccine procurement, settlement of energy sector arrears, development spending, and the recently announced food and energy subsidies.

The WB said that the deficit could reduce in the next fiscal year provided revenue mobilisation measures took hold, particularly GST harmonisation and Personal Income Tax (PIT) reforms. However, the WB had called personal income tax reforms was an attempt to increase tax rates by almost 100% for the middle and upper middle income groups of the country amid double-digit inflation.

The current account deficit – one of the key worries of the new economic team – had been projected to increase to 4.4% of the GDP in the current fiscal year by the WB. There was a marked deterioration in the current account deficit due to the previous government’s failure to ensure higher non-debt creating inflows.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2353428/new-finance-minister-faces-uphill-tasks-warns-wb

 

[Bewal Express]

The day Pakistan appointed its new finance minister to cope with the challenges – containing rising inflation and navigating through one of the worst external sector crisis, the World Bank on Tuesday reminded the country that 34% of its population was living on just $3.2 or Rs588 a day income.

The Pakistan Development Update – the biannual report issued by the Washington-based lender – also said that soaring inflation disproportionally affected poor and vulnerable households that spend a relatively larger share of their budget on food and energy.

The poor spend around 50% of their total consumption on food items, the World Bank said. It pointed out that Pakistan’s key indicators were further deteriorating in the current fiscal year, seeking urgent measures to tighten the fiscal belt for ensuring debt sustainability.

Poverty measured at the lower middle-income class poverty line of $3.2 Purchasing Power Parity line of 2011 per day was estimated at 34% in the last fiscal year. The ratio was 37% in the preceding year. But despite a nominal reduction, the percentage was significantly higher and it would be a constraint for the new government that was assigned with an uphill task to ensure economic viability of the country.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed Dr Miftah Isamil as the finance minister. Ismail will be assisted by Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha who has been assigned the portfolio of minister of state for finance.

The duo would leave for Washington today (Wednesday) to have their first interaction with the authorities at the US Treasury Department, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

“I am hopeful that I will be able to convince the IMF to revive the programme on terms that also take into account harsh ground realities in Pakistan,” said Ismail.

His one of the most important meetings would be at the US Treasury Department, as the country seeks to repair ties with the world’s largest economy, damaged by immature public statements by former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign affairs minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

READ Govt fully capable of resolving energy crisis: Miftah

But the WB’s Pakistan Development Update report tells what lies ahead for the new finance minister.
The WB cautioned that rising food and energy inflation was expected to diminish the real purchasing power of households, disproportionally affecting poor and vulnerable households that spent a larger share of their budget on these items.

However, with higher inflation, increasing borrowing costs and political uncertainty, business and consumer confidence had been trending lower after reaching a pandemic high in June 2021.

The WB said that the inflation was estimated to rise to an average of 10.7% in fiscal year 2021-22 as against the target of 8%, reflecting higher oil and commodity prices. Headline inflation in Pakistan was the highest in South Asia, where the regional average was 6% during the first half of the current fiscal year. It added energy inflation reached 25.1% on a yearly basis in urban areas and 22.6% in rural areas in the current fiscal year.

Najy Benhassine, the WB country director for Pakistan, said that sustaining the post-Covid economic recovery in the previous fiscal year “requires addressing long-standing structural weaknesses of the economy and boosting private sector investment, exports and productivity”.

The WB report underlined that given the current significant imbalances in the external sector and low external buffers, macroeconomic adjustment, specifically fiscal consolidation to complement ongoing monetary tightening, was urgently needed.

Heightened domestic political uncertainty over the past few months had slowed the implementation of key reforms to improve overall fiscal and debt sustainability. Going forward, further policy reform slippages and delays in adjustment measures were likely to exacerbate the already widening macroeconomic imbalances.

The report noted that public and publicly guaranteed debt stood at Rs45.3 trillion at end-December 2021, an increase of Rs3.1 trillion since end-June 2021. The share of external debt was 37.5% whereas short-term debt was 13%.

Pakistan’s total debt level was in breach of the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act 2005 that stipulated a reduction of total public debt to 60% of the GDP by end-FY18. Moreover, the growing arrears of the power sector and liabilities emanating from commodity operations posed further risks to debt sustainability, the lender warned.

READ Daily loss of Rs2,500m to govt from PTI's economic 'minefield': Miftah

Even at the expanded size of the economy, the WB projected the debt-to-GDP ratio to grow to 76% of the GDP, which otherwise could have been 90% of the GDP had the previous government not revised the base year of the economy.

Strong aggregate demand pressures, in part due to accommodative fiscal and monetary policies, paired with the continued anti-export bias of the national trade tariff structure, contributed to a record-high trade deficit, weighing on the rupee and the country’s limited external buffers.

“To mitigate immediate macroeconomic risks, the government should focus on containing the fiscal deficit at a level which ensures debt sustainability, closely coordinate fiscal and monetary policy, and retain exchange rate flexibility,” Zehra Aslam, the lead author of the report, said.

The fiscal deficit was projected to widen slightly to 6.3% of GDP in FY22, on the back of higher spending on Covid-19 vaccine procurement, settlement of energy sector arrears, development spending, and the recently announced food and energy subsidies.

The WB said that the deficit could reduce in the next fiscal year provided revenue mobilisation measures took hold, particularly GST harmonisation and Personal Income Tax (PIT) reforms. However, the WB had called personal income tax reforms was an attempt to increase tax rates by almost 100% for the middle and upper middle income groups of the country amid double-digit inflation.

The current account deficit – one of the key worries of the new economic team – had been projected to increase to 4.4% of the GDP in the current fiscal year by the WB. There was a marked deterioration in the current account deficit due to the previous government’s failure to ensure higher non-debt creating inflows.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2353428/new-finance-minister-faces-uphill-tasks-warns-wb

So Miftah is complaining that the Reserves have dropped, i wonder why? Before the VOC they were around $20bn and as the uncertainy continued, the investors took their money and went. Who caused all this damage Miftah sahib.

 

[Hermoine Green]

So Miftah is complaining that the Reserves have dropped, i wonder why? Before the VOC they were around $20bn and as the uncertainy continued, the investors took their money and went. Who caused all this damage Miftah sahib.

First thing he did after being appointed as FM, ran away to IMF to take further loan.

 

[Kianig89]

First thing he did after being appointed as FM, ran away to IMF to take further loan which was negotiated in IK regime.

Fixed

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD: Newly-appointed Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Wednesday said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wanted Pakistan to take a number of steps to do away with subsidies extended by the previous government, including raising fuel price and power tariff, to revive its Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

The fund had set a series of prior conditions involving steep fiscal adjustment close to Rs1.3 trillion, Mr Ismail told mediapersons before leaving for Washington.

The IMF wants fuel prices increased to breakeven and taxes restored, amnesty scheme discontinued for industries, circular debt reduced, power rates raised and fiscal savings ensured in order to completely reverse the Feb 28 relief package, the minister said.

The previous government had a commitment to have a primary balance of Rs25bn which was now in deficit at Rs1.3 trillion. “We have heard their (IMF) position but have not made any commitment yet,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was heading a coalition government and had advised him to pass on minimum possible burden to the people.

“We will not pass it on as suggested but something would have to be done because the IMF programme is inevitable,” he added.

The minister hinted at doing away with tax amnesty for industries at the outset and added that IMF’s greater focus was on ending fuel subsidy because it was creating fiscal hole while power tariff could somehow be delayed because its direct bearing on budget was not immediate.

He said about Rs100bn saving could be made by cutting the development budget to Rs600bn instead of Rs900bn, which might not be spent in any case by the ministries.

“We will not cut a penny out of Benazir Income Support Programme,” he said, adding that to compensate, wheat flour had been reduced by Rs150 per 10kg to Rs400 while sugar would be sold at Rs70 per kg through utility stores.

“Edible oil price has also been reduced by Rs205 per kg and was now being sold at Rs260 per kg,” he said.

Responding to a question about its fiscal impact, Miftah Ismail said the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) had Rs8bn allocation, out of which only Rs4bn had so far been spent, which meant space was available but this would be done in any case to provide relief to the people.

The minister said his priority was to secure one tranche of $1bn from the IMF and prepare for the coming budget and not to club two quarterly reviews.

He said he was opposed to increase in personal income tax slabs because it was counter-productive but there could be discourse on taxing the rich, for example, through inheritance tax as tax equity was also important while pushing for tax efficiency.

But the problem is that this would then come back indirectly because otherwise the resultant devaluation would increase the financing gap and the higher fiscal deficit would cause widespread inflation, Mr Ismail said, adding that the government would ensure ‘gentle landing’ of the unwinding of the ‘unscrupulous’ relief package that had put the country’s economic stability at stake.

“We will not allow disruption in economy through abrupt increase in fuel prices,” the finance minister said, while explaining that petrol price required Rs21 per litre increase for breakeven followed by Rs30 per litre petroleum levy and 17pc GST that would take its price to Rs234 per litre. “This is not possible”.

He said the package announced by former prime minister Imran khan was totally ill-advised and illogical and was not at all based on the finance ministry’s summary.

He also bailed out former finance minister Shaukat Tarin over the package, saying he had not moved a summary on the issue; in fact no finance minister in normal frame of mind could support such actions that were ‘not landmines but atom bombs’ and needed to be defused at the earliest.

Mr Ismail said he approved Rs67bn fuel subsidy for April which had no prior approval despite announcement, while Rs96bn subsidy was now estimated each for next two months as per litre subsidy on diesel had increase to Rs51.52.

“Not only the government is paying these amounts out of the budget every month, but Rs25-50bn due in taxes was not coming. This, on an annual basis, translates into Rs1.8 trillion – larger than the country’s defence budget,” he said.

The minister said the poor people earning less than Rs25,000 were subsidising land cruisers to the extent of Rs1,700 per 80 litre filling and a truck from Karachi to Islamabad was being subsidised to the extent of Rs50,000 per trip.

“What you have done Khan Sahib to this country,” he questioned, adding that nothing could be more ruthless.

Responding to a question on IMF’s demand for more taxes, he said he had explained nothing could be achieved in taxes in these two months.

He said it was not a matter of demand by the fund but he personally believed there was no justification for Rs90bn subsidy being provided by the poor to the rich.

The finance minister expected rollover of $2.4bn by China in a couple of days followed by another $2bn in extension in Safe deposit besides increase in trade credit swap over the coming months.

He said about $4bn financing was required for current account deficit and arrangements were being made to ensure that foreign exchange reserves did not deplete further this fiscal year.

During his Washington visit, Mr Ismail said he was expecting to meet the IMF managing director, chief executive officer of the World Bank, executive directors of the G-7 nations, besides ministers of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and China as well as the IMF mission chief to Pakistan.

He said the government would ensure fiscal discipline and tighten its own belt to restore the IMF programme and no extra-burden would be put on the people.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2022

 

[MenInG]

Newly-appointed Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said on Thursday that he was leaving for Washington, where he was expected to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials for the revival of a loan facility that was stalled following the premature end of the Imran Khan government earlier this month.

Ismail, who has replaced Shaukat Tarin in the role of the country's finance czar in the new coalition setup, tweeted before leaving for Washington that the purpose of the visit was to "put back on track our IMF program that PTI and IK (Imran Khan) derailed, thus endangering our economy".

He added that he would travel to London on the way, where he would meet PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

On Wednesday, Ismail told media persons during a press conference in Islamabad that his priority was to secure one tranche of $1bn from the IMF and prepare for the coming budget and not to club two quarterly reviews.

He further said he was expecting to meet the IMF managing director, chief executive officer of the World Bank, executive directors of the G-7 nations, ministers of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and China and the IMF mission chief to Pakistan.

IMF's conditions

In the same press briefing, Ismail revealed that the IMF wanted Pakistan to do away with subsidies extended by the previous government, including those on fuel prices and power tariffs — two relief measures that former prime minister Imran Khan had announced right before the filing of a no-trust motion against him. The move had invited criticism with many describing it as going against Pakistan's commitments to the IMF for the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility.

The IMF had set a series of prior conditions involving steep fiscal adjustment close to Rs1.3 trillion, Ismail said, adding that the IMF wanted an increase in fuel prices to breakeven and taxes restored, amnesty scheme discontinued for industries, circular debt reduced, power rates raised and fiscal savings ensured in order to completely reverse the PTI government's February 28 relief package.

The previous government had a commitment to have a primary balance of Rs25bn which was now in deficit at Rs1.3 trillion. “We have heard their (IMF) position but have not made any commitment yet,” Ismail said.

The PML-N led coalition government, which had severely criticised the previous Imran-led government for first failing to control fuel prices in the country and later for "derailing" the IMF programme through fuel and electricity subsidies, is yet to reverse the measure of reducing petrol prices with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week rejecting the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority's (Ogra) proposal in this regard.

Assuring that no burden would be passed on to the people in the process to meet the IMF's conditions, Ismail added, "But something would have to be done because the IMF programme is inevitable.”

The government would ensure fiscal discipline and tighten its own belt to restore the IMF programme and no extra burden would be put on the people, he said.

Ismail further said the government would ensure a "gentle landing" of the unwinding of the PTI's "unscrupulous" relief package that had put the country’s economic stability at stake.

The minister also hinted at doing away with tax amnesty for industries at the outset and added that the IMF’s greater focus was on ending fuel subsidy because it was creating a fiscal hole while power tariff could somehow be delayed because its direct bearing on the budget was not immediate.

He said about Rs100bn saving could be made by cutting the development budget to Rs600bn instead of Rs900bn, which might not be spent in any case by the ministries.

Responding to a question on the IMF’s demand for more taxes, he said he had explained nothing could be achieved in taxes in these two months.

DAWN

 

[Bewal Express]

Going for halal begging to the IMF. What will Maryams media cell make of this? I cant wait to see the memes from her media cell. And why dont AZ and NS just give the money to this imported govt.

 

[MenInG]

Nice trip to collect some airmiles.

==

WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Sunday agreed with International Monetary Funds’ (IMF) recommendations to reduce fuel subsidies phase-wise, ARY News reported, citing sources privy to the development.

Miftah Ismail held a meeting with the executive directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington for the revival of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

Sources sy that the finance minister hinted to carry forward the IMF program and agreed to curb subsidies on the fuel and electricity phase-wise. Meanwhile, the IMF said it has no objection to the Income Support Programme and added Pakistan can continue subsidies for the marginalised section of the society.

The IMF has also shown its consent to the continuation of the Sehat Card scheme, the sources said.

On April 20, Ismail said that the government would make all-out efforts to restore the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme with International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Speaking at ‘Meet the Press’ organized by National Press Club, the finance minister, who was accompanied by Federal Minister Information and Broadcasting, Marriyum Aurangzeb, had said the government could reduce public sector development spending with other necessary budgetary discipline arrangements.

“We will restore the programme. If the government had to tighten its belt, it will do so,” he said adding that no extra burden would be put on people.

ARY

 

[MenInG]

The senior-most deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will steer the central bank till the appointment of a permanent head after the tenure of Reza Baqir, who was appointed the SBP chief by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), came to an end on Wednesday.

The announcement was made by Finance Minister and PML-N leader Miftah Ismail in a tweet on Tuesday. Miftah said Dr Murtaza Syed, a former official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be at the helm. "Dr Murtaza Syed, an eminently qualified economist with rich IMF experience, will take over as Governor SBP. I wish him the best in his new role."

Dr Murtaza Syed, a PhD in economics from Nuffield College at the University of Oxford, was appointed as deputy governor for a period of three years, in pursuance of Section 10(4) of the State Bank of Pakistan Act 1956 (amended), his profile on the SBP website read. He had assumed his responsibilities on January 27, 2020.

A day earlier, Miftah had ruled out an extension to the SBP chief. “Tomorrow Governor SBP Dr Reza Baquir’s 3-year [term] expires. I have spoken to him and told him of the government’s decision. I want to thank Reza for his service to Pakistan,” said Miftah in a tweet. “He is an exceptionally qualified man & we worked well during our brief time together. I wish him the very best,” he had added.

It may be noted here that the PML-N remained very critical of the policies of Baqir and its legislators have demanded an inquiry into the $3.6 billion hot foreign money brought to Pakistan during the first year of the governor’s term.

Meanwhile, the sources said that the Ministry of Finance had proposed the name of Noor Ahmad, Pakistan’s Executive Director in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and former federal secretary, for appointment as the next central bank governor.

The other two names in the panel are Aurangzeb Khan, President of Habib Bank Limited, and a senior IMF official.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/235528...nure-ends-deputy-governor-to-take-over-miftah

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to strengthen the country’s economy and foreign reserves, the Pakistan government has requested Saudi Arabia not to withdraw its deposits worth $3 billion in the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) until the end of this year, said Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Wednesday.

Last year, Saudi Arabia had deposited $3 billion in the SBP to help support Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Miftah Ismail said that former prime minister Imran Khan’s economic team misguided the nation on talks with IMF.

“An IMF delegation will visit Pakistan in the next few days,” he said, adding that they will show the PTI how to make things better and reduce inflation.

“Khan’s team said something during talks with IMF and told something else to the people in the county,” noted the finance minister. Lashing out at the past regime, the finance minister claimed that the Imran Khan-led government made new records of corruption and planted landmines in the economy.

Moving toward his government’s progress, the minister said that sugar is being sold at the lowest rate in the country since 2019. He maintained that the commodity is available at Rs70 per kilogram at the Utility Stores. The price of 20kg wheat bag has been slashed to Rs800 from Rs1200. The price of ghee has been reduced by Rs200 per kg.

Khan will have to answer why Shahzad Akbar turned a blind eye to the sugar scam, he added.

In addition to this, Miftah Ismail said that the government had improved the electricity situation in the country.

The finance minister said that they have no plan to curtail the powers of the SBP. He maintained that the housing schemes of the previous government will continue.

Breakthrough as IMF to give another $2bn
On April 24, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to send its mission to Pakistan in mid-May 2022 for continuation of its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

He had said at a press conference in Washington that the Fund had agreed to extend the programme for a year. A senior finance ministry official had told The News in Islamabad that the Fund would jack up its $6bn programme to $8bn.

Addressing a press conference in Washington, Miftah Ismail had said that the IMF had agreed to send its mission to Pakistan in the middle of May 2022 for continuation of Extended Fund Facility programme.

GEO

 

[Hermoine Green]

[MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION]

He is wrong about flour price though. Yes, 20KG wheat bag price was 800 but only in Ramazan Bazaars (Which were established by PTI though), so actual or normal price in normal stores is 1200-1400/20KG.

Miftah and his story of lies...

 

[Hermoine Green]

So, Miftah or SS couldnt finalize a deal with Saudi Arabia of 8bn$ [MENTION=1269]Bewal Express[/MENTION]

Our new channels were wrong it seems.

 

[Bewal Express]

So, Miftah or SS couldnt finalize a deal with Saudi Arabia of 8bn$ [MENTION=1269]Bewal Express[/MENTION]

Our new channels were wrong it seems.

Bikharis failed. Either the Saudis will ask for more in return such as Yemen intervention or they are are deliberately going anti Imported govt.

 

[cric_man]

So, Miftah or SS couldnt finalize a deal with Saudi Arabia of 8bn$ [MENTION=1269]Bewal Express[/MENTION]

Our new channels were wrong it seems.

Yes all bogus news only emanating from "The News/Geo" and then picked up by Indian media (WION).

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Minister Miftah Ismail on Friday said the much-anticipated talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are going forward in a "positive" manner, hoping that the economic situation in the country would improve soon.

Taking to his Twitter handle, the finance minister wrote: “With positive IMF talks underway, we expect a turnaround in the economic situation very soon.”

Miftah also shared the current account data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) last night, terming the decline a “good sign for external stability”.

“The current account deficit for April came in at $623 million, less than half the average for the first [nine] months of the fiscal year. This is a very good sign for external stability,” he wrote.

Current account deficit narrows 39%

According to data released by the central bank, Pakistan’s current account deficit — the gap between foreign expenditures and income — narrowed 39% month-on-month to $623 million in April on the back of historic high workers’ remittances and a reduction in the import bill.

“Current account deficit shrank to $623 million in April 2022; only two-thirds of March 2022 deficit of $1,015 million,” the central bank said on its official Twitter handle late on Thursday.

The SBP cited a rise in workers’ remittances (by $315 million) and fall in imports (by $246 million) as reasons behind this reduction.

The data showed that the export earnings improved from $83 million to $3.15 billion in the month under review compared to $3.07 billion in the previous month.

Workers’ remittances hit a historic high at $3.12 billion in April compared to $2.81 billion in the previous month.

Imports of goods shrank to $6 billion in April compared to $6.25 billion in the prior month.

However, in the first 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year, the cumulative current account deficit soared 27 times to $13.78 billion compared to a mere $543 million in the same period last year.

On a month-on-month basis, April is the second consecutive month when the current account deficit has contracted.

The balance of payments numbers come as the coalition government has sought to increase the size and duration of the IMF loan programme as the foreign exchange reserves of the central bank declined to $10.2 billion during the week ending May 13 which can cover less than two months of imports.

A surging current account deficit amid higher imports is putting pressure on the rupee.

Pakistan-IMF talks

A Pakistani delegation is holding talks with the Fund in Qatar, seeking the revival of the stalled $6 billion loan programme. Miftah will also travel to Doha on May 24 to participate in the final round of negotiations.

The government is expected to withdraw energy subsidies and roll back unfunded subsidies to the oil and power sector.

According to reports, Pakistani authorities would make every effort to urge the IMF's review mission that it should lower the cost of the inflation burden that will impact the population, and may ask for a phased-in approach to subsidy reversal, particularly on petroleum goods.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/417941-finance-minister-hopeful-of-quick-economic-turnaround

 

[MenInG]

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Monday ruled out the removal of fuel and power subsidies ahead of the talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Addressing the media, the finance minister also said the country will hear "good news" soon ahead of his departure today to Doha where the incumbent government will start another round of policy-level talks with the monetary fund.

In response to a question regarding the conditions stipulated by the IMF during Shaukat Tarin’s tenure as finance minister, Miftah commented that the incumbent government will refuse to raise the prices of fuel and levy higher taxes on commodities.

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif have outrightly refused to increase the prices of fuel," said the finance minister.

Pakistan has committed to the IMF that it will withdraw the energy subsidy. However, the government has not yet increased the prices of petroleum products due to the fear of political backlash.

In order to provide relief to the consumers, the former government announced a relief package on February 28, 2022. It slashed prices of petrol and high-speed diesel by Rs10 per litre each and said that the prices would be kept unchanged till the next fiscal year’s budget.

As a cap has been placed on oil prices, the petroleum levy and general sales tax (GST) have been brought down to zero for petrol and diesel.

During the media talk, the finance minister lambasted the narrative of the ousted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and blamed them for the current state of the economy.

He also blamed former prime minister Imran Khan’s call to protest as a deterrent to the financial watchdog’s ability to hold talks within the country. However, he stated that he would be in communication with party leaders and would not return without a deal.

Referring to a recent comment by Tarin, he said the PTI's narrative that "we were the best government" continues to damage the country.

Miftah added that while the PTI speaks about grand conspiracies, Pakistan’s allies stand by the current government. “If these [conspiracies] were true, China would not be our friend, but Bilawal’s visit was a success.”

The minister further criticized former PM Khan’s earlier remarks stating that he did not care to talk about the price of “potatoes and tomatoes”.

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has come to power because he has vowed to keep a check on prices,” Miftah said adding, “Imran Khan was in power for four years and sugar prices didn’t come down, he did nothing to help the consumers.”

The finance minister also accused the PTI government of major corruption, including former Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar. “Buzdar sold 16 licenses for cement in Punjab, one cannot grant more than two because of the environmental damage from limestone mining.”

He further added that the ousted premier had skimmed money from mega projects including the Rawalpindi Ring-road and the Billion Tree Tsunami projects.

Miftah urged the opposition to “stop lying” and admit that the PTI’s tenure saw “20 million people fall below the poverty line” and exorbitant taxes were levied on necessary hospital equipment such as X-ray machines and ventilators. “Who is to answer?” he asked.

In response to a question regarding electric and gas load-shedding in Karachi, the minister agreed that excess load-shedding negatively affected industry. He urged businessmen to meet with Musadik Malik during his trip to Karachi so the PML-N leader can provide relief as best as possible.

Express Tribune

 

[MenInG]

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said on Saturday that the government's relief package, which was announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif a day earlier, would help protect the poor people from the "storm of inflation" left by the previous PTI government and the recent hike in fuel prices.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, he shared the criteria for availing the 'Sasta Petrol, Sasta Diesel' relief package.

Women, whose household income was less than Rs40,000 per month, could text their CNIC (computerised national identity card) numbers on 786 or call that number to receive Rs2,000, he said.

"We cannot provide complete relief as we do not have the resources but we will do all we can to dress the wounds [of poor people]."

The relief amount would also be incorporated in the upcoming budget which would be presented in the National Assembly next month, Ismail added.

The minister said the government would also augment the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

He clarified that the relief package was not limited to motorcycle owners but included anyone whose monthly household income was below Rs40,000. People who were already BISP beneficiaries did not need to send their details on 786 since they would automatically receive the amount, he added.

Sharing further details, Ismail said that under the relief package, 14 million households would receive the amount. "Rs2,000 will be given in June and it will cost the government Rs28 billion. Besides 3.3m BISP beneficiaries, this [package] covers 6.7m households with poverty scores below 37.

"This money will be given to the poorest families," he said. "We have the data and phone numbers of BISP recipients, we will start giving them the money from June 1."

However, the money would only be given to the women of the household, he said.

He added that the money given through the relief package amounted to five per cent of the income of a household earning less than Rs40,000 monthly and 8pc of the income of a household earning Rs31,333 or less monthly.

The previous PTI government was giving subsidies to the rich while the incumbent government was targeting the poor, Ismail said.

He said that according to the PTI government's deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), all subsidies were to be removed, the tax levy increased to Rs30 and a sales tax imposed, which would raise the price of diesel to Rs300 per litre and petrol to Rs276 per litre.

"We are not going by this formula," he insisted.

In response to a question, Ismail said he did not know whether fuel prices would be increased again starting June 1. "I don't think it will be appropriate to raise the prices again in a few days since we have already increased them on the 26th but I am not sure."

He also said he had not received a summary to increase power tariffs.

DAWN

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">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.</p>— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) <a href="https://twitter.com/MiftahIsmail/status/1533757501346557954?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said on Tuesday that the country needed $41 billion dollars in the next 12 months, adding that he was "very confident" about it happening.

"We have to pay back $21bn in the next year. I am guessing that the outside limit of the current account deficit will be $12bn [...] I think that we should have reserves of at least three months [...] So we need $41bn over the next 12 months and I think it will happen," he said, adding that he was "very confident", without elaborating further.

Addressing the Pre-Budget Business Conference organised by the government in Islamabad, the minister outlined the problems plaguing the country's economy.

He said that the Shehbaz Sharif government had re-engaged with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "We talked to them and we are very, very confident that we will soon have an agreement with the IMF. We are very, very confident of that."

He went on to say that the current coalition government had taken tough decisions to stabilise the economy. "It is not easy for any prime minister to allow an increase in the price of fuel they way we have, twice of Rs30 each, but we were losing Rs84 per litre on diesel and Rs69 per litre on petrol."

That loss would have been Rs120bn per month if we had continued to provide the fuel subsidy, the minister said. He went on to say that the cost of running the government of Pakistan was a little more than Rs40bn.

"We were spending thrice the amount of running the government on this subsidy," he said, adding that it was also in contravention with the agreement the former government had signed with the IMF.

He claimed that the former government had promised the IMF to not give a fuel subsidy while also imposing a Rs30 levy and 17 per cent sales tax. "If I had followed the agreements [inked] by Shaukat Tarin and Imran Khan, I would either have been kicked out of the job or the price of petrol and diesel would be Rs300."

He reiterated that the former government "laid a trap" for the current rulers by providing the fuel subsidy. However, he assured the businessmen that the government would stabilise the economy.

"We will take tough decisions because this is our country. It is our job to stabilise it and we will leave it in a better condition," he vowed. He also highlighted that the government had recently engaged with Saudi Arabia, China, the United Arab Emirates and other countries for this purpose.

Ismail said that the government had prepared a "very progressive budget" but would also focus on fiscal control and consolidation, vowing to reduce the budget deficit.

He opined that Pakistan's growth model was imperfect as the current account deficit always became an issue for economic growth. "Our imagination is limited and finance ministers meet with people like you and make tycoons richer," he told the businessmen.

"When we do that, our imports increase because our consumption basket is very big," he said.

The minister said average debt during the PTI government's tenure was Rs5,177bn, while for the PML-N it was Rs2,132bn which was used for infrastructure development.

He said that over the span of 71 years, the country's rulers — including military dictators — took out loans of Rs25,000bn while former premier Imran took out loans worth Rs20,000bn over a span of four years.

"This is 80 per cent of all loans taken by the entire government of Pakistan in the previous 71 years," he said, adding that this had resulted in an increase in debt servicing. "The more you borrow, the more you have to pay."

Talking about the problems being faced by businessmen in the country, he said that the government would ensure the supply of gas and power. "In the power sector, the government has given a subsidy of Rs1,072bn," he said, adding that it could go up to Rs1,100bn.

"Unless we reform the power sector and bring good governance, it will be an albatross around our neck."

DAWN

 

[Vatta]

The absolute humiliation of this clown.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This must be pretty humiliating. Miftah not only has to steady a sinking economy but also feed Gharidah’s kutta on Maryam’s orders.<br><br>In this hierarchical society, even the finance minister is treated like a naukar. Says a lot about why the country is in dire straits. <a href="https://t.co/IXowysvvPG">pic.twitter.com/IXowysvvPG</a></p>— Arif Rafiq (@ArifCRafiq) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArifCRafiq/status/1534161741088796673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Savak]

Am reading reports of senior PML N leaders and party insiders getting frustrated by this buffoons incompetency

 

[MenInG]

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail is addressing the post-budget conference, a day after the government presented a Rs9.5 trillion inflationary budget amid a daunting challenge to meet ambitious targets.

The new budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 provides solace to the salaried class whose tax burden has been significantly lessened in addition to 15% increase in salaries of the inflation-stricken government employees.

The finance minister said the country was going through a "very difficult" and unprecedented period. The minister, addressing the media alongside Minister of State Ayesha Ghous Pasha and Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, said the government understands that this is a difficult period and "we have tried to reduce the burden on the poor and take more from the rich".

Referring to the budget presented a day earlier, Miftah maintained that the government has tried to tighten the fiscal policy and to reduce the overall deficit. He said that taxes have been increased on Pakistani citizens who possess foreign assets along with new taxes on property.

The finance minister added that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wanted higher income tax rates but the government has tried to reduce the tax.

In response to a question regarding the feasibility of inflation and growth targets, Miftah stated “we have targets of growth and inflation but our first priority is fiscal consolidation and reducing the burden on the masses."

Answering another question regarding a revised award by the National Finance Commission (NFC), Miftah stated that the commission must sit and discuss a new award. “KP’s population has grown since the incorporation of FATA and their allocation should reflect that.”

When asked regarding an increase in the defence budget's allocation of stipends, Miftah stated that the increase reflected the rise in inflation and will be used to pay those employees who make Rs30,000.

Minister of State Ayesha Ghous Pasha said during the media briefing that the incumbent government inherited a "difficult situation", but the country needs to focus on growth.

She added that the government has regulated and subsidised the prices of wheat, sugar and ghee and the government has also given relief to the farmers.

Express Tribune

 

[the Great Khan]

Actually Miftah knows the truth. He knows the PTI dud an amazing job..he isn't stupid. But he is a noakar of the mafia and must follow orders. He should resign and save what minor honour he has left..

 

[MenInG]

Caught by surprise over some missing details on critical external receipts, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has said fiscal consolidation is the government’s priority to avoid a Sri Lanka-like crisis, whereas growth and inflation targets come later.

Speaking at a post-budget news briefing on Saturday, the minister kept building a case for more challenging decisions and hinted at reducing or withdrawing relief on personal income tax provided in the next year’s budget because the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was not ready to give up the demand for higher revenue yield.

The minister did not respond directly to repeated questions over justifications for fresh hefty “executive allowances” to government officers on top of 15pc salary increase and perks to judicial and military officers. He was equally evasive about a possible rise in poverty levels because of measures introduced in the budget 2022-23.

Read: Development allocations take a hit in Rs9.5tr FY23 budget

The minister started the event by repeating his “tough times” narrative and associated risks and thus difficult decisions to help the country avoid default.

“These are challenging times. Pakistan is standing on a very difficult moment, which is so precarious I have not seen in 30 years since I came back from abroad after education,” he said, adding the situation was such that, on the one hand, the international environment was not conducive, but on the other, those running it only aggravated the situation instead of resolving it.

He said a power sector subsidy of more than Rs1.1 trillion provided electricity to consumers at Rs11 per unit, resulting in a reverse cycle of inflation, higher interest rates and heavy losses because of maladministration.

“Unless we correct this, the country won’t be able to afford it. On top of that, Rs400bn subsidy was being provided on gas while its circular debt stood at Rs1.4tr, as SNGPL alone lost Rs200bn this year in diverting expensive imported LNG to those who are not ready or unable to pay. “This is also Pakistani’s money,” he said.

Therefore, he said, the government was required to take bold decisions. “We will not hesitate to make difficult decisions. Of what use is politics which is at the cost of the country? We cannot allow our country to drift towards a Sri Lanka-like situation. If we do, the nation will not forgive us. There is no other choice and we have to go for attack this time,” he said while insisting that fiscal consolidation was the top priority.

“Growth and inflation are our targets, but our first priority is fiscal consolidation,” he said. Fiscal and monetary policies would be tightened to reduce fiscal and current deficits, he said on another occasion.

The minister said the government had taxed the rich and tried to reduce personal income tax on middle-income groups by enhancing the exemption limit to Rs1.2 million a year, but the IMF was not happy. He said these measures were meant to bring more people into the tax net, but there could be changes over the next few days as budgetary measures come under discussion in parliament.

“There will be some pain,” he said, apparently hinting at income tax changes in line with the previous government’s written commitment with the IMF.

Responding to a question, the minister said there was nothing new to report on IMF talks. He was taken aback when asked if the reasons behind the absence of proceeds from the Fund and China in budget books meant the government did not expect a breakthrough with the multilateral lender and Beijing.

One of his associates said it was because of the late printing of budget documents. The minister and his team, however, did not explain estimates for inflows from the IMF and China next year. This was strange given $5bn (or Rs1tr) remaining instalments of the IMF programme and $3-5bn Chinese funds.

For the current fiscal year drawing to a close this month, the previous government had projected Rs496bn IMF proceeds but they did not materialise, according to budget books, after the Fund programme derailed because of an expansionary fiscal stance.

Responding to a question about Rs3tr tax evasion, Mr Ismail said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would soon constitute a task force for recoveries and corrections. In a related question on those facilitating such evasions through changing legal instruments, he said as the finance minister he would not like to indulge in criminal issues and expect relevant institutions to take steps.

Special perks

Despite questions, Mr Ismail and accompanying members — federal minister for information, minister of state for finance and finance secretary — did not respond if it was justified to give special perks and allowances to senior members of civil, judicial and military bureaucracy when fiscal tightening was being applied to all other sections of society.

The finance minister also repeatedly sidestepped questions on “executive allowance” to government officers of the federal secretariat in Grade 17 to 22 at the rate of 150pc of the basic pay with effect from July 1 “in line with that granted by all provincial governments”.

This will be in addition to “disparity reduction allowance 2022” to above senior officials at the rate of 15pc in line with already provided to those in grades 1-19 announced in March this year.

This increase will be allowed to all principal and secretariat officers and those in attached departments like auditor general, statistics, meteorology, oceanography and so on.

Likewise, the existing rate of qualification pays will be raised by 100pc with effect from July 1, whereas orderly allowance to senior officers will be increased to Rs25,000 instead of Rs17500. The existing rates of drivers’ salary embedded in transport monetisation to grades 20 to 22 will also be increased to Rs25,000.

LNG from Qatar

Meanwhile, Mr Ismail said Pakistan will seek a deferred payment plan for liquefied natural gas (LNG) bought under long-term deals with Qatar.

“We’ve talked about a deferred payment plan ... or at least I’ve requested this ... and (Pakistan’s) petroleum minister is doing negotiations and is going to do the talks,” Mr Ismail told Reuters in an interview.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2022

 

[MenInG]

Conceding for the first time that mismanagement of contracts in its previous tenure was a major source of current energy sector challenges, the PML-N-led government has identified domestic political uncertainty, Russia-Ukraine war, higher provincial deficits and significant losses and debts of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as key risks to next year’s budget and medium-term macroeconomic outlook.

In an integrity statement to parliament required under the Public Finance Act as part of the federal budget, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and Secretary Finance Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh have also highlighted a possible increase in expenditures because of higher subsidies and interest payments and an anticipated setback to revenue collection owing to import and demand contraction, posing substantial risks to the economic growth and sustainability of fiscal and monetary projections.

“The main reasons behind the power sector losses include high cost of generation, attributable to costlier technologies and poorly designed contracts, resulting in exorbitant profits for private investors and front-loading of debt repayments during the first ten years of plant operations, above-average transmission and distribution losses and below-average recoveries of electricity bills,” the joint statement issued by the finance ministry said. As a result, the power sector is the largest recipient of government subsidies at present, it added.

The statement said several fiscal risks confronted Pakistan and a lot of effort was needed to overcome or mitigate the potential adverse effects of such risks.

Higher provincial deficits, significant losses and debts of SOEs may also lead to budget slippages, finance ministry says

“The silver lining is that the country has already made considerable progress in certain areas and a number of strategies are available to address the risks that remain,” the statement said. It promised the risk management strategy under the Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms to bring discipline, transparency and credibility at all stages of the budget cycle to prevent or lower exposure to such risks and create buffers to counter.

Fuel imports — those of oil, gas and coal — constituted a large portion of Pakistan’s import bill and their prices affected the prices of various goods and services as they fed into the costs of production through multiple channels, including transportation costs, energy costs, etc., the statement said. “Volatility in prices of these fuels is a major reason behind the volatility in inflation rates which, in turn, contribute to volatility in interest rates and exchange rates.”

Moreover, an increase in the cost of imported fuels — whether due to rising global prices or a falling rupee, or both — could affect the wider economy in the form of lower GDP and revenue growth besides higher current account deficit, inflation, interest rate, the interest cost, fiscal deficit and public debt.

“Currently, there are little or no fiscal buffers or risk management framework for dealing with adverse shocks in the prices of imported fuels,” the statement said.

Likewise, the statement pointed out that “strict fiscal discipline” on the part of provinces and, resultantly, their cash surplus was a crucial component in reducing the country’s overall consolidated fiscal deficit.

“In the absence of legally binding commitments from provinces, the risk remains high that the projected provincial budget surpluses (Rs800bn for the next year) may not materialise,” it said, adding that this risk was “particularly elevated considering that any shortfalls in [Federal Board of Revenue’s] projected collections may provide the provinces with the justification not to meet the budget surplus targets”.

The ministry also highlighted that the number and aggregate size of SOEs had grown considerably over time. Losses and excessive debt of SOEs have necessitated costly government bailouts in the form of subsidies, grants, loans and guarantees. “The fiscal cost of running the loss-making SOEs has been quite high and has worsened an already fragile financial position of the government”, whose policy to keep them has aggravated the fiscal situation.

Also, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been identified as a significant risk factor to Pakistan’s positive economic outlook as the prolonged conflict could further raise international oil and food prices and impede world trade through additional supply disruptions affecting our imports, exports and taxes on imports and put additional inflationary pressures. Furthermore, higher international commodity prices could strain Pakistan’s fiscal account and subsidies to protect citizens significantly increase the risk of fiscal slippages.

The statement said the domestic political uncertainty could result in macroeconomic imbalances and monetary tightening and fiscal consolidation measures to reduce the demand pressures would slow down economic growth in the coming year. On top of that, the exchange rate depreciation has an immediate impact and can be especially severe when a large portion of the debt is in foreign currency.

The finance ministry said Pakistan’s fiscal stance was vulnerable to commodity prices, especially those of oil, and a fluctuation impacts revenues on account of the petroleum development levy and on the expenditure side through fuel subsidies. “As a result, it causes severe macroeconomic imbalances. To deal with such circumstances, fiscal buffers become increasingly important,” it said.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2022

 

[MenInG]

The government has decided, in principle, to reverse the drastic tax relief provided to the salaried class in its proposed federal budget for 2022-23, official sources told Dawn.

In the recently presented budget, the government had unexpectedly given major relief in terms of tax rates to individuals with higher salaries by reducing the maximum tax rate from 35pc to 32.5pc. The proposed budget also reduced the number of slabs from 12 to seven.

According to the official, the revised tax slabs and other proposals have been submitted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “Technical level talks will start in the next few days,” the official said, adding that they would “try to protect the salaried class falling in lower slabs”.

The Fund’s representative in Islamabad also confirmed that they were in “discussions with the authorities… to obtain more clarity on certain revenue and spending items”.

Duties on cigarettes, air tickets and mobile phones enhanced; heart association proposes tax on sugary drinks to protect citizens’ health

Responding to written questions shared by Dawn, IMF Resident Representative Esther Perez Ruiz said “We note the submission of the draft budget to the National Assembly last Friday.” However, she maintained that according to preliminary IMF estimates, additional measures will be needed to strengthen the budget and bring it in line with key programme objectives.

“Fund staff stand ready to continue to support the authorities’ efforts in this respect and, more generally, in the implementation of policies to promote macroeconomic stability,” she said.

Senate body reviews budget proposals

Separately, a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, held under the chairmanship of Senator Saleem Mandviwala, reviewed the budgetary tax measures in the year 2022-23.

FBR officials told the committee that restaurant services and supply of goods were taxed separately. The former was a provincial subject, while there was a issue on supply of goods between centre and provinces, but the matter has now been settled, said chairman FBR Asim Ahmed.

The meeting approved a proposal to further increase federal excise duty on cigarettes as well as international business class air tickets as well as taxes on telecom services.

Senator Farooq Naik raised questions over the imposition of a 4pc sales tax on import of jewellery. He pointed out that this was a provincial subject and asked under which law such a tax had been imposed. The committee also rejected the increase in sales tax on electric vehicles from 12.5pc from 17pc, while Senator Naik suggested an exemption for small electric vehicles.

Representatives of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce told the committee that the construction sector would be adversely affected by the government’s ban on imported goods. They said that six large hotels were being planned for Islamabad, adding that if the ban was not lifted, then this project may be affected.

The advance tax on filers in real estate industry has been increased from 1pc to 2pc, but the committee suggested to FBR officials that the advance tax for filers in real estate should not be more than 1pc.

The committee also unanimously approved the levy on mobile phones. FBR officials said they expected to generate about Rs670 million in revenue from this.

Pakistan National Heart Association officials told the committee that one in three Pakistanis were diabetic and that the use of sugary beverages was increasing the incidence of obesity, heart disease and cancer in the country, proposing a 20pc tax on all carbonated and sugary drinks.

They pointed out that there was a 13pc tax on soda but no tax on juices. At this, the FBR chairman said that such a tax can be levied only when the track and trace system – which can help keep track of products during the entire supply chain process — is in place.

“It will take a year,’ he said, adding that the proposal was in the national interest, but the committee should also hear the views of the industry. Consequently, the committee summoned the representatives of beverage industries and Pakistan National Heart Association in the next meeting.

FBR officials also informed the committee that the super tax imposed in the previous PPP government will now be merged with the new tax on the banking sector.

Published in Dawn,June 16th, 2022

 

[MenInG]

PTI Chairman Imran Khan claimed on Sunday that Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had asked for “relief” from the American envoy stationed in Islamabad.

Addressing his party supporters protesting against inflation, via video link, the former prime minister said that he fears that Pakistan’s economy is in “danger”.

Repeating his claim of an American conspiracy to topple his government, the PTI chairman said that “neutrals” were told about it and warned that the country will be ruined if the PTI is removed from power and the incoming government will not be able to save it.

Khan added that the “neutrals” were warned about all this when there was time to defeat the conspiracy.

The PTI chairman then said that when the no-confidence motion took place the dollar was at 178 and today it has reached 208. He added that he believes the country is at the same stage where Sri Lanka is at.

“Miftah Ismail asked American envoy to get relief. Nothing is free everything has a price, US will take our real freedom as a price,” warned Imran Khan. He also advised the finance minister and prime minister that the Americans have a price for everything.

The former prime minister also claimed that the incumbent rulers wanted to take an “NRO 2” and they took it.

“If these rulers are imposed on the country for long then they will bury the institutions. The whole nation has to fight together,” said Khan.

The PTI chairman warned that the country would head to anarchy if free and fair elections are not held.

'Asked you to come out for betterment of country'
The PTI chairman said that people protest for the betterment of their country. He added that democracy gives citizens the right to raise their voice against injustice.

“I told you to come out today for your betterment. Because I fear that the petrol prices that have risen today will not stop here,” the former prime minister told his supporters.

The PTI chairman said that he expects to see inflation to rise further, warning that the people who will be affected by it will be the lower class, salaried class and especially the farmers.

“Today every Pakistani wants to ask what has happened in the country after no-confidence motion,” said Imran Khan. He added that the coalition government claims that he had left behind “landmines”.

"They are in IMF Programme since two months and we were in it since 2.5 months. Did we not have pressure to raise prices? Did we not negotiate with IMF constantly?” asked the PTI chairman.

The PTI chairman said that when the IMF asked his government to raise prices they decreased them as they knew the impact it would have on the people.

“We did it by taking money from here and there. We were in IMF programmes as well but cared about our people,” said Imran.

The PTI chairman said that the coalition government claims that they got a bad Pakistan but in reality it was not true. Instead, he claimed, that it was the PML-N government from 2013-2018 that left a “real landmine” in the form of a ballooning current account deficit.

The PTI chairman said that to counter rising oil prices his government had planned to buy oil from Russia so the pressure is not transferred to the people. He also wondered why the incumbent government was unwilling to talk about taking oil from Russia.

On Thursday PTI Chairman Imran Khan had called on the masses to hold demonstrations across the country against the “imported” government today.

In line with his call, PTI held protests at Islamabad’s F-9 Park, Karachi’s Shahrah-e-Qauideen, Lahore’s Liberty chowk, Faisalabad’s Ghanta Ghar chowk, Rawalpindi’s Commercial Market, Multan’s Sahah Abdullah chowk and Peshawar’s Hasht Nagari Gate. The demonstrations were also held in other cities of the country.

GEO

 

[silentkiller187]

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reconstituted the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) and appointed Finance Minister Miftah Ismail as its chairman, ARY News reported.

The Cabinet Division has issued a notification about the reconstitution of ECNEC.

According to a notification issued by the Cabinet Division, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail will be the chairman of the sight-member inter-provincial decision-making body on development.

 

[Kianig89]

A complete clown he is even worst than some of PPP MINISTERS in the past, earlier was harping PTI has done wrong then negotiated the exact deal which PTI put up with IMF, then blabbering that it's bcz of past govt. That we have to increase fuel.prices and now of the opinion that increase in petrol prices has no concern with ImF
Is he worthy to be the finance minister a shrewd CEO won't hire him as watchman let alone such a coveted desig.

 

[MenInG]

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said on Wednesday that a Chinese consortium of banks and Pakistan had signed a $2.3 billion (15bn renminbi) loan facility agreement, with cash inflow expected within a "couple of days".

The minister made the announcement on Twitter, saying the agreement was signed by the Pakistani side yesterday. "We thank the Chinese government for facilitating this transaction," Ismail said.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also expressed his gratitude to the Chinese leadership. "The people of Pakistan are grateful for the continued support of our all-weather friends," he said.

Earlier this month, the finance minister had shared the "good news" that the terms and conditions for refinancing the deposit by Chinese banks had been agreed. At the time, he said the loan would help "shore up our foreign exchange reserves".

On June 2, while addressing a press conference, Ismail had said that China had withdrawn the loan on March 25 and set tough conditions under which Pakistan could not utilise those funds.

Read: Hoping for a Chinese rescue

However, he went on to say that after a visit by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and follow-up discussions by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with Prime Minister Li Keqiang, the Chinese side had not only agreed to roll over the amount but also done so at a cheaper interest rate of 1.5pc plus Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor) instead of earlier 2.5pc plus Shibor.

In today's announcement, Ismail did not elaborate further on the agreement with the consortium.

The development comes after reports emerged of Pakistan reaching an understanding with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It will also prop up Pakistan's dwindling cash reserves which are at $8.99 billion, as per data from the central bank.

Previously, the minister had said that a deal with the IMF would pave the way for receiving loans from other multilateral organisations. Even China had linked any loan with the revival of the IMF programme, he said in May.

 

[MenInG]

China has signed a $2.3 billion commercial loan deal with Pakistan to boost its sliding foreign exchange reserves, as the government waits for the rollover of three more maturing loans totalling $2 billion.

“The Chinese consortium of banks has today signed the RMB 15 billion ($2.3 billion) loan facility agreement after it was signed by the Pakistani side yesterday”, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail tweeted on Wednesday.

He added that the inflow was expected within a couple of days, expressing his gratitude to the Chinese government for facilitating this transaction.

The official foreign exchange reserves remain in single digits, standing at $8.9 billion. However, these loans will give it a boost once Chinese banks transfer the money, opening blocked financing pipelines.


A day earlier, the State Bank of Pakistan rebutted rumours that its liquid foreign exchange reserves of $8.9 billion had not dried up and were “fully usable”.

Pakistan had repaid the $2.3 billion commercial loan in March in the hope to get it back in April. However, China had placed a condition that the money could not be used due to weakening of the external sector position of Pakistan.

China also wanted Pakistan to remain committed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme.

On Tuesday, the finance minister had announced a deal with the IMF on budget numbers, aligning the figures with the global lender’s assessments of revenues and expenditures for the next fiscal year.

The government has also accepted some of the tough conditions for the sake of reaching a deal with the IMF.

The global lender’s Resident Representative Esther Perez said on Wednesday in a brief statement that “discussions between the IMF staff and the authorities on policies to strengthen macroeconomic stability in the coming year continue, and important progress has been made over the fiscal year 2022-23 budget”.

However, finance ministry officials said that the understanding reached with the IMF on the budget would help complete the legislation process before the end of the ongoing fiscal year on next Thursday.

In March 2019, the China Development Bank had extended a commercial loan for three years at a six-month China Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (SHIBOR) plus 2.5%.

Earlier this month, Miftah had said that Beijing agreed to reduce the rate by 1%. At the current 6-month SHIBOR rate of 2.32% + 1.5%, the lending rate now comes to around 3.8%, which is better than that charged by Saudi Arabia for its $3 billion deposits.

The Chinese government has also withdrawn its condition that Pakistan could not use the proceeds of the $2.3 billion commercial loan. It also agreed to reduce the interest rate on the loan by 1% to around 3.8%. This has provided a sigh of relief to the finance ministry that lobbied for two months to get back the loan, which it repaid in March this year.

Pakistan has made another request to China for the rollover of $2 billion worth of debt. Out of this, two loans valuing $1 billion are maturing next week and another $1 billion in the fourth week of July.

A senior official of the finance ministry hoped to receive “positive news” from China in the shape of rollover of these maturing loans.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has already formally requested the Chinese government to roll over both the maturing loans, according to officials. Earlier in March this year, China had also rolled over $2 billion in SAFE deposit loans.

However, the finance ministry did not show these $4 billion loan rollovers in the next fiscal year’s borrowing plan.

Budget books showed that the total external receipts were estimated at $17 billion, or Rs3.13 trillion, for fiscal year 2022-23. The Budget documents showed that Pakistan had planned to float $2 billion worth of international Sukuk and Eurobond in the next fiscal year.

It can get a better price only if the IMF programme is restored as foreign investors fear default on payments of previous bonds. The cabinet on Tuesday had approved to pledge six more national assets to float domestic and international Sukuk bonds.

Miftah had said that Pakistan needed gross $41 billion foreign loans in the next fiscal year to repay $21 billion maturing loans, finance $16 billion current account deficit and receive additional funds to improve reserves.

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan has received combined economic and financial targets for the seventh and eighth reviews of its International Monetary Fund bailout programme, finance minister Miftah Ismail said on Tuesday.

"Early this morning, the Government of Pakistan has received an MEFP from the IMF for combined 7th and 8th reviews," Ismail tweeted.

An Memorandum of Economic and Finance Policy (MEFP) contains certain prior actions that would be necessary for implementation before the IMF board takes up Pakistan’s case for approval and the subsequent disbursement of about $1bn next month.

IMF and Pakistan, in a breakthrough on June 22, reached an understanding on the federal budget for 2022-23, increasing the likelihood of reviving the extended fund facility (EFF) after authorities committed to generate Rs436 billion more taxes and increase petroleum levy gradually up to Rs50 per litre.

The understanding was reached during a meeting, held via video link, between the IMF staff mission and the Pakistani economic team, led by Ismail.

The IMF is now expected to issue a statement confirming substantial progress on the fiscal framework, the two sides agreed. Top government sources said that to win over the IMF mission, the Pakistani side had agreed to start charging on all POL products a petroleum development levy which will be gradually increased by Rs5 per month to reach a maximum of Rs50.

Last week, when news of the understanding was reported, PTI leader and former finance minister Shaukat Tarin said the deal with the IMF was still weeks away as the government had yet to receive an MEFP.

"Their (IMF's) statement says that this is a work in progress and there has been some headway [...] they are saying they will give the memorandum of economic and financial policy on Friday. When that has not been received, how can it be said that an agreement has been reached?"

Tarin had said that the MEFP would be an extensive and detailed document, which would be deliberated upon and discussed "line by line". Then a technical agreement is signed which goes to the IMF's board in Washington, he said, predicting that the deal would materialise by July-end.

In yet another retreat, the government also agreed to impose 1pc poverty tax on people earning Rs150 million, 2pc on those earning Rs200m, 3pc on over Rs250m and 4pc on Rs300m above. In the original budget, the government had set a 2pc poverty tax only on those earning Rs300m and above.

The government also agreed to do away with provisions for additional salaries and pensions, for which Rs200bn had been set aside as block allocation. Instead, a separate allocation of contingencies had been made but that would be strictly meant for emergencies like floods and earthquakes so that amount remains unspent.

Pakistan also committed to deliver a Rs152bn primary budget surplus, which means the revenues would finance all expenditures — in addition to interest payments — and still leave Rs152bn surplus in the national kitty.

Last week, the government also imposed a "super tax" on large-scale industries including cement, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertilisers, LNG terminals, textile, banking, automobile, cigarettes, beverages, chemicals and airlines.

DAWN

 

[MenInG]

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has said he would be content with being replaced with senior PML-N leader Ishaq Dar and would happily vacate the post for the latter if the party leadership decided to do so.

In an interview with a private news channel on Tuesday, Miftah addressed the swirling speculations that Ishaq Dar was likely to return to Pakistan in the third week of July, and shrugged off the matter, saying he "does not feel anything about it".

The former finance minister can head back to the country if he desired so, he added.

"He is our elder and already a part of the economic team,” the incumbent finance minister said and revealed that recent economic decisions, including the ones to withdraw subsidies on fuel, came after taking the PML-N stalwart on board.

He further said that Dar was also part of the government’s economic team and was involved in SBP interviews.

However, the minister said he would be reluctant to accept the role of state minister for finance. "This, of course, won't happen. I won't become the state minister after being the federal minister."

Ishaq confirms his return

The finance minister's statement followed Ishaq Dar confirming his return to the country next month to the BBC Urdu, saying he was currently preparing for his homecoming.

Asked about his possible role in the current government's economic policies on his return to Pakistan and taking over as finance minister, Ishaq Dar said he would take oath as a senator on his return to the country and maintained it was the discretion of the party as to which person should be given what responsibility.

Speaking about the cases against him in Pakistan and his bail, Dar said there was only one case against him filed by former prime minister Imran Khan, stressing it was a “fake” case.

"That is why when Imran Khan's government approached Interpol seeking my extradition to Pakistan, the documents shared with Interpol turned out to be completely unsubstantiated,” he recalled, adding the international body had exonerated him.

It is pertinent to note that the development comes amid rumours that since Miftah was appointed under Section 9 of Article 91 of the Constitution –induction of non-elected to the cabinet – Dar is eligible to assume responsibilities as finance minister as he is elected parliamentarian.

Under the law, if a person is not a member of any of the two houses of the parliament and he is appointed a minister, he would have to be elected to the National Assembly within six months.
Nonetheless, reports said the PML-N stalwart will have to be through with cases against him before assuming responsibilities as a senator.

The PML-N leader, who has served as a federal minister for finance four times between 1998 and 2017, has been living in self-exile in the United Kingdom since November 2017.

‘No regrets’

Explaining the rationale behind the government’s recent “tough decisions” that resulted in skyrocketing inflation during the interview with the news channel, Miftah also said he did not regret any decision and gladly chose to fuel prices “because it served the country's interest”.

"If anyone has campaigned the most in our government for these decisions then it is me. It's not hidden that I said since the first day that petrol prices [should be increased]."

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2363833/miftah-happy-to-quit-as-dar-confirms-homecoming

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congratulations to our Finance & Foreign Office teams led ably by Ministers Miftah Ismail & Bilawal Bhutto for their efforts in getting the IMF program revived. It was a great team work. The Agreement with the Fund has set the stage to bring country out of economic difficulties.</p>— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) <a href="https://twitter.com/CMShehbaz/status/1547466384845717506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Thursday said that the people will be provided relief with the reduction of petroleum prices in Pakistan as there has been a decrease in global oil prices.

“Difficult decisions must be made in difficult situations. After reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), every decision of the coalition government will pave way for ease in the lives of the people. It is time for providing relief to the people,” he stated.

Miftah further said that the incumbent government’s policies had saved the people 'from the landmines laid by Imran Khan in the past four years, especially in the last six months of his regime'.

“In the first two months of this year, Imran Khan tried to make Pakistan into Sri Lanka by breaking agreements with the IMF, but Allah Almighty saved us,” he stated, adding that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief’s conspiracy to make Pakistan economically bankrupt had failed.

The minister said that saving Pakistan from economic bankruptcy was the first major achievement and the second major achievement would be taking Pakistan towards economic development.

The finance minister also claimed that there was no load-shedding in the country and that life was returning to normal as electricity and oil were available in Pakistan.

“7,000 MW of closed power plants have been restored,” he stated.

Miftah added that the IMF had acknowledged that last year's delays and mismanagement led to huge budget deficits and delays in the power sector led to a revolving loan of Rs800 billion.

“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, we have worked day and night to reach a good deal with the IMF”, he said.

Pakistan, IMF reach agreement

Earlier today, the IMF announced a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on the completion of two outstanding programme reviews and increased the total loan size to $7 billion.

The global lender, however, said that Islamabad should stand ready to “take any additional measures”. The IMF statement revealed that against the primary budget surplus target of Rs153 billion or 0.2% of the GDP set in the newly revised budget, the global lender has, in fact, given the 0.4% target.

To achieve this target, the government may either require more revenue measures or will have to slash the expenditure, excluding that on development.

The review of Pakistan’s “anti-corruption institutions, including the National Accountability Bureau [NAB] has also been made part of the programme conditions", according to the IMF statement.

Express Tribune

 

[MenInG]

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail revealed on Saturday that the country faced the all-time highest default risk of Rs5.1 trillion for the Financial Year 2022-23 as he presented the country’s economic overview to the media in Islamabad.

Taking the previous government to task, the minister for finance said “Imran Khan wreaked havoc everywhere” as he blamed the country’s economic deterioration on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government's tenure. “Imran Khan gave amnesty to his friends,” claimed the minister as he retorted “tell me, was this a time to do this?”

Miftah, while pointing fingers at the previous government’s alleged incompetence said “Khan sahib only knew how to usurp land by creating real estate amnesties and trusts”.

Thanking the coalition government for its “support”, the finance minister said he was optimistic “we will bring economic stability”. He promised that “we will reduce inflation and you will not see any load-shedding”.

According to the government, during the PTI government’s rule, the default stood at nearly Rs2.4 trillion, while during the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-N) reign it had been recorded at Rs1.66 trillion.

As per government statistics, the developmental budget decreased from Rs0.9 trillion to Rs0.55 trillion while the total debt increased by 79 per cent. Meanwhile, the trade deficit dived as low as $48 billion in the PTI government’s last year.

The finance minister argued that the previous government “broke the agreement it had itself negotiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)”.

He also claimed that the deal with the global lender was delayed by the previous government and that too was poorly negotiated. “According to the deal, a tax of Rs4 was to be imposed successively every month. This [deal] was agreed in November and broken in February,” said the minister.

Fuel prices and taxation

Reflecting on the situation in Sri Lanka, the minister said that “they did exactly what the PTI had done and now nobody can even buy petrol there”. He also said that PM Shehbaz had been unhappy with the price hike in petroleum products, but now “God has shown us good days”.

Pointing towards the super tax introduced in June on big firms', the finance minister said “I imposed 10% super tax on the prime minister’s sons’ factory”; meanwhile “Imran Khan imposed indirect taxes - a policy he had himself opposed”.

He also said that “we will give interest-free loans of Rs500,000 to the youth” in an effort to empower the largest age group of the Pakistani population.

He also added that the government had “removed tax on all seeds, fertilizer, and tractors” in an effort to ease the pressure on the agriculture sector.

A devastated power sector

“It takes 500 billion to run the government,” said the finance minister, as he blamed Imran Khan for “destroying the power sector” and noted that “Rs1,350 billion were given as subsidy in the power sector alone”.

Amid gas load-shedding, “a circular debt of Rs1,300 billion was accumulated”. He further said that “neither did Imran Khan reduce transmission losses, nor was there any bill collection”.

“All these factors contributed to why the country went bankrupt,” added the minister.

Miftah Ismail also contended that while Nawaz Sharif’s government’s long-term contracts had been “scandalized”, so much so that “people were sent to jail for them”, “today if the country is running it is because of those agreements”. He also claimed that today there were no long-term agreements for LNG and diesel.

Express Tribune

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is likely to get $4 billion from friendly countries this month to bridge a gap in foreign reserves highlighted by the International Monetary Fund, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said, two days after sealing a deal with the lender.

The IMF reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on Thursday that would pave the way for a disbursement of $1.18bn. The board is also considering adding $1bn to a $6bn programme agreed in 2019.

“As per the IMF, there is a $4bn gap,” Mr Ismail told a news conference in Islamabad, referring to the shortfall in foreign reserves.

“We will, God willing, fill this gap in the month of July,” he said. “We think that we will get $1.2bn in deferred oil payment from a friendly country. We think that a foreign country will invest between $1.5bn to $2bn in stocks on a G2G (government-to-government) basis, and another friendly country will perhaps give us gas on deferred payment and yet another friendly country will make some deposits.”

Miftah expects $3.5bn from ADB, $2.5bn from World Bank and $400-500m from AIIB in current fiscal year

Depleting reserves, a widening current account deficit and the rupee’s depreciation against the dollar have left the nation facing a balance-of-payments crisis.

Without the IMF deal, which should open up other avenues for external finance, Mr Ismail said the country could have headed towards default.

He said the country would also get around $6bn from multilateral lenders this fiscal year, including $3.5bn from the Asian Development Bank and $2.5bn from the World Bank.

He said $400m to $500m was also expected from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank while the Islamic Development Bank was also likely to increase the funding.

‘Unpopular decisions’

The current government had to take tough and unpopular decisions to avert default, Mr Ismail said, blaming the previous administration for all the economic woes faced by the country.

He hoped the rupee would strengthen against the dollar soon after the IMF agreement was finalised, which was expected in the current month. Besides, he said the government was aiming to curb energy imports to $2.7bn this month from $3.7bn last month, which was also expected to take some pressure off the local currency.

However, he stressed that adhering to strict fiscal and financial discipline was vital to put the economy on a fast track, have sustainable economic development and attain social prosperity.

The press conference was heavily tilted towards criticising the “mismanagement and bad governance” of the previous PTI-led government, which Mr Ismail said was incapable and inefficient and pushed the country on the verge of economic default.

During the first three years of the PTI government, the budget deficit hit a historically high level of Rs3.41 trillion compared to Rs1.66tr during PML-N’s five-year tenure from 2013 to 2018.

Net debt and liabilities grew 78pc during the first three years of the PTI government to Rs53.54tr from Rs23.67tr, he said, adding that the country witnessed historic high deficits and a free fall of the rupee.

The tax-to-GDP ratio came down to 9pc according to new GDP, he said, adding that the PML-N government had left the ratio at 11pc.

He said that delay in decision-making, poor commitments with international lending institutions, particularly with the IMF, also proved disastrous for the national economy and pushed it to the verge of default.

Mr Ismail told reporters that foreign debts and liabilities increased from 33pc to 40pc and debt servicing more than doubled from Rs1.5tr to Rs3.14tr.

In budget 2022-23, the government had fixed revenue collection targets at Rs7.47tr, he said, adding that non-revenue collection was targeted at Rs1.94tr, which not only would be achieved but also surpassed.

Despite the tough fiscal position, he said the government raised its budgetary allocation of the Benazir Income Supports Programme from Rs250bn to Rs364bn.

Replying to a question, the minister said interest-free loans would be provided to youth besides promoting the IT sector, adding that the government had also provided Rs109bn for the higher education commission and allocated Rs5bn for the scholarship of the students from Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2022

 

[Major]

Has to be the most sincere finance minister we ever had. He has taken really tough decisions while putting hisnpolitical career at stake. Pmln might even make him a scapegoat in the long run. But those decisions were needed to be taken.

Salute to this guy.

 

[Colorblind Genius]

Has to be the most sincere finance minister we ever had. He has taken really tough decisions while putting hisnpolitical career at stake. Pmln might even make him a scapegoat in the long run. But those decisions were needed to be taken.

Salute to this guy.

Which decisions, precisely?
Can you please elaborate in detail? And please tell us the benefit of those decisions that were passed on to the public. I am all ears, and really would like to understand your point of view.

 

[Bewal Express]

Has to be the most sincere finance minister we ever had. He has taken really tough decisions while putting hisnpolitical career at stake. Pmln might even make him a scapegoat in the long run. But those decisions were needed to be taken.

Salute to this guy.

The idiot took over when the Rp was 178, today by some estimates it stands at 242. You guys can stick your fake sincerity. A clueless bunch with one agenda and that is to destroy PK.

 

[Browncaps]

The idiot took over when the Rp was 178, today by some estimates it stands at 242. You guys can stick your fake sincerity. A clueless bunch with one agenda and that is to destroy PK.

IMF team lived in 2 star hotel and this naukar of maryam lived in a 7 star one when negotiating a loan to add to chor khandaans wealth. All on same taxpayers expense whose vote these thugs rigged on Sunday.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Has to be the most sincere finance minister we ever had. He has taken really tough decisions while putting hisnpolitical career at stake. Pmln might even make him a scapegoat in the long run. But those decisions were needed to be taken.

Salute to this guy.

The finance minister cannot ok any tough decisions without the approval of the PM. So if you want to give credit then give it Shahbaz for signing off on these moves. However in this case Shahbaz had to intention of making any difficult reforms. His plan was to get a bailout from the IMF and beg for aid from Gulf Arabs and China.

IFM has refused to bailout Pakistan without making reforms, and other countries want Pakistan to get the IMF loan first. So he has no choice now but to make some changes until the IMF gives them the loan. So if anyone deserves credit its the IMF.

 

[MenInG]

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Monday expressed confidence that the pressure on the rupee will reduce in the next week as the government has “succeeded to reduce imports.”

In an exclusive talk with Radio Pakistan's correspondent Zahid Hameed, Miftah appeared confident that the economic targets set for the current fiscal year will be achieved as a result of better decision-making by the present government.

“Pakistan currently stands in a position where its new imports are less than exports and remittances,” he explained, recalling that there were imports of $80 billion and exports of $31 billion during the last fiscal year.

He maintained that the economy will be put on a development trajectory and the issue of price-hike will be controlled in the next few months.

The finance minister, however, said increasing exports could be challenging in view of the looming recession in the West. “We have to put in more effort to bolster our exports,” he added.

He furthered that no load-shedding is being carried on the industrial feeders to support this important sector of the economy.

Remittances & tax collection

Miftah rejected the impression created by some quarters of the society that the country's remittances, exports and tax collection witnessed a decrease in recent months.

He pointed out there had been record remittances in the month of May whilst the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) also achieved its targets in the period between April and June this year.

The minister said we have set a target of enhancing the revenue by 35 per cent during the current fiscal year.

He said that the FBR will collect Rs7,500 billion while Rs800 billion will be collected as a levy.

“The government is supporting the productive sectors of the economy, including the agriculture, industries and Information Technology to take the economy in the right direction,” said Miftah.

He maintained that tax on seeds has been abolished whilst tax on IT export proceeds has been reduced from one per cent to 0.25 per cent.

IMF tranche next month

Responding to another question, Miftah Ismail said Pakistan is expected to receive the next tranche of the IMF by the end of next month after the Fund's board meeting on August 24.

He said $4 to $5 billion are also expected from the friendly countries. He furthered that one friendly country is ready for immediate investment in the country.

“The federal cabinet has approved a law to pave way for this investment,” he informed. “Matters pertaining to the oil and gas deferred payment are also likely to be finalised with the friendly countries in a week,” he added.

Power sector & frequent price-hike

On the power sector, the minister said a lot is being done to bring improvement in the sector. He regretted that the previous government neither made any investment to improve the electricity transmission system nor completed the power generation plants.

He said the PTI government also did not sign any long-term fuel agreement and resultantly, “we have to operationalise those power plants, which operate on expensive furnace oil.”

He mentioned that the government will support the farmers and the poor consumers to convert to solar in order to save them from electricity bills.

On frequent price hikes, the finance minister said under Sasta Petrol and Sasta Diesel scheme, relief assistance of Rs2,000 is being given to deserving families.

“Cash assistance is also being provided to deserving families under Benazir Income Support Program,” he said, adding that essential commodities are being provided at subsidised rates to the consumers through the utility stores.

Express Tribune

 

[MenInG]

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail is currently addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

At the outset of his press conference, the minister highlighted that the country witnessed import reduction of $2.7 billion between June and July.

He said that for now the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had given approval to lift the ban on imports, but the prime minister and the cabinet had yet to give their approval.

“We are removing the ban on most items, except for vehicles, mobile phones and home appliances.” He said that the ban on these three items would remain in place for “some time”.

Ismail said that the coalition government believed it had saved the country from defaulting.

“We plan to give Pakistan a healthy economy. We are determined to minimise the current account deficit and turn it into surplus within a year or so.”

The minster said that the government had succeeded in curbing imports and would make efforts to increase exports over the next two to three months.

“But the big issue of impending default has been resolved.”

Criticising the former PTI government, he said that the coalition government was not capable of bringing the country to the brink in a mere three months.

“The ones who brought the country to this point was the PTI and Imran Khan.”

He said that in 2018, Pakistan’s debt was approximately $25bn. “When we came into power, it had soared to $44.5bn. In four-and-a-half years, you increased our debt by $20bn,” he said, holding the party responsible for “four consecutive budget deficits”.

He blamed the policies of his predecessor, Shaukat Tarin, and the PTI chief for the burgeoning current account deficit.

“In four years, the PTI could not reach the tax-GDP ratio of the PML-N government. We had left it at 11.1pc and the PTI took it to 9pc. Khan sahab used to say he would increase tax [collection] but he reduced it every year.”

When you are reducing tax collection every year and increasing your budget deficit, then you will be debt, he pointed out. He added that the former government imposed direct taxes which forced the coalition government to present a “difficult budget” by imposing direct taxes.

He also blamed the PTI government for the increase in circular debt, saying that it had gone from $1.1bn to $2.5bn during its tenure. The minister said that the PTI chief did not increase the power tariff for 1.5 years, which is why consumers were not receiving bills with fuel adjustment charges for April.

“They did not work on any area. Yes, they kept on appearing on the media, on Twitter and giving false statements […]. They ask who is responsible. You are responsible Khan sahab.”

He said that the PTI government had violated the agreement made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November and had sold oil and petrol at a loss. He also noted how Imran gave amnesty to the real estate sector and his “ATMs”.

“Afterwards, he said what harm can a little money laundering do? What harm can breaking the [IMF] agreement do? What difference does it make if the country defaults a little? It makes a difference Khan sahab.”

Ismail went on to say that he went to the IMF office a day after assuming office as the government was prepared to take the necessary steps to save the country, even if it meant damaging their political capital.

The minister said that Imran should immediately submit a reply in the prohibited funding case. “What are your afraid of? […] I urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to announce the verdict no matter what the Supreme Court does after.”

Ismail’s media talk comes as Pakistan struggles to stave off an economic crisis as it awaits a bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Islamabad and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement earlier this month to pave the way for the release of a tranche of $1.17 billion – but the lender is awaiting approval from its board, which is not scheduled to meet until late August.

It also comes amid reports that the Army chief asked the US to help speed up the release with Pakistan faced with dwindling foreign exchange reserves and a free-falling currency.

High commodity prices have hit Pakistan hard. The current account deficit soared to over $17 billion in the last financial year compared to under $3 billion in the previous period. Reserves have dropped to dangerous levels, covering under two months of imports.

DAWN

 

[MenInG]

Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail on Wednesday admitted that there are groups within the PML-N and some people are working against him out of jealousy.

He made these comments while speaking on Geo News programme "Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath".

When asked to comment on reports about grievances in the party over the economic situation and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif not being pleased with the management of economic affairs, Ismail said, "most of the party members support me while some are concerned over the situation".

He added that some are "jealous and forward bits of information against me and do other things".

The finance minister said that most of the people understand the gravity of the situation and consider the decisions of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to be timely and ones that saved Pakistan from default. They think that Miftah Ismail is part of the team, he said.

The minister told his critics that this is a coalition government and moves forward in consultations with other parties.

“People have their own views and I respect that. Some may think I am not doing the right thing and some may have the opinion that I know my job,” he said.

To a question over whether PM Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif are satisfied with him, he responded: “Had they not been pleased with me I wouldn't have been a minister now.”

He said that a minister can be sacked on a message from the PM or his personal secretary.

About the appointment of a new central bank chief, the finance minister admitted delay on his part but assured that the slot will be filled this week.

He didn't disagree with remarks by the anchor that the delay is due to differences over the choice between him and Ishaq Dar.

There were reports that former finance minister Ishaq Dar — a close confidante of Nawaz Sharif — will return in July and replace Miftah Ismail.

However, he did not come back.

 

[MenInG]

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday distanced themselves from the Shahbaz Sharif government's decision to hike the prices of petroleum products as Finance Minister Miftah Ismail put up a strong defence of the decision.

In separate statements, both the key political leaders criticised the government for increasing the prices which were hiked on Monday despite a massive appreciation in rupee value and a decline in international oil prices.

Expressing concern over the development, former president Asif Ali Zardari said the PPP is a part of the government and supports it, but there must be consultations on such decisions.

“We are all here in this government to give relief to the people and that should be our top priority. We are with the prime minister and will meet him soon and talk about the economic team,” he added.

On Monday, the government cranked up the price of petrol by Rs6.72 per litre for the next fortnight.

“In the wake of fluctuations in petroleum prices in the international market and exchange rate variations, the government has decided to revise the existing prices or petroleum products to pass on the impact to the consumers,” the statement released by the Finance Division read.

The government's decision invited a lot of criticism from the public. Citizens are of the view that the prices of petroleum products are on a downward slope all over the world and yet their prices are being increased in Pakistan.

As people vented out their views on the government's decision, a user on Twitter tagged Maryam Nawaz and requested her to "speak to Mian Nawaz Sharif to take notice of the increase in the price of petrol."

Replying to the user, Maryam wrote: "Mian Sahib strongly opposed this decision. He even said that I cannot burden the people with [payment of] one more penny."

She said her father stressed that he was not on board but if the government was bound by some constraint, it should go ahead with the increase. Maryam said the PML-N supremo disowned the POL increase decision and left the meeting.

Maryam reacts to hike in petrol prices
Earlier, after the government issued the notification of the new POL prices, Maryam, too, rejected the federal government's decision.

Reacting to a Twitter user, Maryam noted: "I stand by the people of Pakistan. I cannot support this decision."

'Easy target'
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail explained how the petrol prices are calculated after he came under fire following the increase in petroleum prices.

Responding to senior journalist Hamid Mir on Twitter, he said the government has not imposed any tax on petroleum products.

Clarifying his position, the minister said that he did not say that the price will not be increased.

“Mir sahib I said I will not add one penny of new taxes or levies to the price. And I have not. But you know Hamid sahib that the fuel price summary is moved by OGRA and sent to Finance division through the Petroleum division. We get it only a few hours before prices are set.”

Miftah Ismail said: “I am an easy target. Which is fine. But this price change only reflects the change in PSO costs and doesn’t have any new taxes.”

He added that people are welcome to critique or criticise him.

“I know I am sincere to my country and have saved it from default and working to the best of my ability.”

New POL prices

On August 15, the federal finance ministry issued a notification regarding the new POL prices. While the government raised the price of petrol, it slashed the price of diesel by Rs0.51.

Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif disown petrol price hike; Miftah says he is an easy target

In line with the new changes, the price of petrol will be Rs233.91 per litre and diesel will be Rs244.44 per litre. Kerosene oil will be sold for Rs199.40 per litre after a cut of Rs1.67, and the price of light diesel oil will be Rs191.75 per litre with the addition of Rs0.43.

The new prices came into effect August 16, 2022.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/9...opposed-hike-in-petroleum-prices-maryam-nawaz

 

[Major]

Good decision by miftah. Zardari and nawaz wete against this, but this isnt about politics. Pakistani ruppee has done well worldwide and its because miftah is bring in proper economic policies.

Imran, nawaz and zardari will rather make decisions that helps them politcally but the country economically.

Well done miftah saab

 

[Bewal Express]

Good decision by miftah. Zardari and nawaz wete against this, but this isnt about politics. Pakistani ruppee has done well worldwide and its because miftah is bring in proper economic policies.

Imran, nawaz and zardari will rather make decisions that helps them politcally but the country economically.

Well done miftah saab

Done well? Your knowledge of economics is on par with Liberalism. You create a crisis by a massive drop and then you improve on it and that shows you doing well. The Rp should be back in the 180 range as the oil price has dropped. These circus clowns have destroyed a stable economy with insane and incompetent policies.

 

[Major]

Done well? Your knowledge of economics is on par with Liberalism. You create a crisis by a massive drop and then you improve on it and that shows you doing well. The Rp should be back in the 180 range as the oil price has dropped. These circus clowns have destroyed a stable economy with insane and incompetent policies.

Learn to respond to the post and not the poster.

Also i would trust a person with a doctorate. Oil prices have dropped but youkeep ignoing imf conditions which is to apply levy from this date

 

[Bewal Express]

Learn to respond to the post and not the poster.

Also i would trust a person with a doctorate. Oil prices have dropped but youkeep ignoing imf conditions which is to apply levy from this date

Both the post and the poster needed to be educated on economics. Your crooks came in on one promise and that was to cut prices. or have you forgotten? The IMF loan is worth less than what your crooks have stolen in the last 4 months. Where have the reserves gone? And AZ and NS have billions stashed away, those alone are worth more than the IMF loan. The Avenfield House is worth over £60mn, tell us how much is the IMF loan?

 

[Browncaps]

Also i would trust a person with a doctorate.

Same one who lived in a 7 star hotel while his IMF counterparts lived in a 2 star one

 

[Major]

Same one who lived in a 7 star hotel while his IMF counterparts lived in a 2 star one

Plz post a spurce for this and also remember, miftah ismail is a big businessman who ran bisconni. Offcourse he will live in a luxury hotel.

Issue is only when he is living un a 7 star on state expense. If there is proof of this than do share otherwise dont qoute me for the sake of it

Also foreign delegates are treated on state expence not their personal

 

[Browncaps]

Plz post a spurce for this and also remember, miftah ismail is a big businessman who ran bisconni. Offcourse he will live in a luxury hotel.

Issue is only when he is living un a 7 star on state expense. If there is proof of this than do share otherwise dont qoute me for the sake of it

Also foreign delegates are treated on state expence not their personal

Source is Jameel Farooqui, Imran Riaz and various talk shows on Pakistani channels.

So per you and the chors you support, because he is rich he can use Pakistani states money like mian saanp did and waste it on his stay when negotiating a loan that because of his chor leaders theft is needed to prevent a default?

Your last comment is proving my point, his chor leaders looted Pakistan and your response is he will not spend his own ill gotten funds (while Pakistan faces default his own factory is fully functioning and turning a profit) but waste the states already meagre resources and you are justifying it due to ppps political alliance with pmln.

 

[Major]

Source is Jameel Farooqui, Imran Riaz and various talk shows on Pakistani channels.

So per you and the chors you support, because he is rich he can use Pakistani states money like mian saanp did and waste it on his stay when negotiating a loan that because of his chor leaders theft is needed to prevent a default?

Your last comment is proving my point, his chor leaders looted Pakistan and your response is he will not spend his own ill gotten funds (while Pakistan faces default his own factory is fully functioning and turning a profit) but waste the states already meagre resources and you are justifying it due to ppps political alliance with pmln.

Reread my post. You clearly didnt understand what i said.

Let me make it simple:

Businessman make money. He make alot money. He spend alot money on luxury. Alot money he make, his own money.

Where is the proof that he used state money for 7 star hotel. There is always a notification when state money is used. Plz find that and post it.

When you are treating international delegation, offcourse its the state money that is used. I think you are not aware how the govt sector works so no point arguing.

 

[Bewal Express]

Same one who lived in a 7 star hotel while his IMF counterparts lived in a 2 star one

They are here to take what they can. Do you remember when they used govt helicopters to deliver food. These thugs are the most disgusting, immoral losers on the face of the earth and the less said about the defenders the better

 

[Bewal Express]

Reread my post. You clearly didnt understand what i said.

Let me make it simple:

Businessman make money. He make alot money. He spend alot money on luxury. Alot money he make, his own money.

Where is the proof that he used state money for 7 star hotel. There is always a notification when state money is used. Plz find that and post it.

When you are treating international delegation, offcourse its the state money that is used. I think you are not aware how the govt sector works so no point arguing.

And you think he used his own money? Just like they built billion dollar empires in Dubai and London with their own money.

 

[Major]

And you think he used his own money? Just like they built billion dollar empires in Dubai and London with their own money.

Bro, if he used state money, there is usually a recipt or notification by govt where they reimburse.

If there is one than share it here and it proves the point being made.

Miftah ismail is rich and that is becaus he ran a succesful company whos products are still used by people today.

Its like bashing trump for using his own money.

If miftah used state money, post the proof and we can all bash him.

But bashing him for a crime whose proof doesnt exists is unreasonable

 

[Browncaps]

Reread my post. You clearly didnt understand what i said.

Let me make it simple:

Businessman make money. He make alot money. He spend alot money on luxury. Alot money he make, his own money.

Where is the proof that he used state money for 7 star hotel. There is always a notification when state money is used. Plz find that and post it.

When you are treating international delegation, offcourse its the state money that is used. I think you are not aware how the govt sector works so no point arguing.

If renowned journalists are reporting it and said news is run on tv channels and imported government did not refute their reporting, its accepted as their guilt.

Also, with such a government in place, they will not expose themselves by showing proof in writing that they wasted taxpayer funds on his luxurious hotel stay. In case if you do not think this far, given how showbaz begs for funds, he could have ordered miftah to stay in a cheaper hotel.

pmln have a history of corruption ,looting, attacking supreme court physically and verbally and treason. They even spent taxpayers funds on providing state level security to convicted criminal on bail maryam, this is a fact, I don't know how you benefit from claiming Miftah spent his own funds and not governments, their track record completely refutes such a logic. showbaz even made a swimming pool from taxpayers funds, no attempt by their nurse maryam aurangzeb was made to deny this, so its accepted.

You claim to live in Pakistan, surely you should be bothered by this waste of funds instead you champion it on basis of your partys political alliance.

I am not even getting into funds wasted by chor sharif family waste on fake cases to victimize PTI, but anyone with half a brain can see the problem here.

 

[Major]

If renowned journalists are reporting it and said news is run on tv channels and imported government did not refute their reporting, its accepted as their guilt.

Also, with such a government in place, they will not expose themselves by showing proof in writing that they wasted taxpayer funds on his luxurious hotel stay. In case if you do not think this far, given how showbaz begs for funds, he could have ordered miftah to stay in a cheaper hotel.

pmln have a history of corruption ,looting, attacking supreme court physically and verbally and treason. They even spent taxpayers funds on providing state level security to convicted criminal on bail maryam, this is a fact, I don't know how you benefit from claiming Miftah spent his own funds and not governments, their track record completely refutes such a logic. showbaz even made a swimming pool from taxpayers funds, no attempt by their nurse maryam aurangzeb was made to deny this, so its accepted.

You claim to live in Pakistan, surely you should be bothered by this waste of funds instead you champion it on basis of your partys political alliance.

I am not even getting into funds wasted by chor sharif family waste on fake cases to victimize PTI, but anyone with half a brain can see the problem here.

So a 7 star hotel is doing business without a receipt.

Infact, you think to fund the hotels expense govt of pakistan gave lakhs of ruppees in cash to miftah to go a 7 star hotel and pay for it with the brief case?

Govt sector doesnt work that way. When funds are used by the govt a proper reciept or a paper is made in which the expense bared by the govt is written. The reason for that is because the deduction had to be recorded by the AGPR office.

 

[Browncaps]

So a 7 star hotel is doing business without a receipt.

Infact, you think to fund the hotels expense govt of pakistan gave lakhs of ruppees in cash to miftah to go a 7 star hotel and pay for it with the brief case?

Govt sector doesnt work that way. When funds are used by the govt a proper reciept or a paper is made in which the expense bared by the govt is written. The reason for that is because the deduction had to be recorded by the AGPR office.

Not at all, what I am saying is he deliberately uses his position to rake in profits for his own business, then shamelessly uses public funds to live in unnecessary luxury for a near default nation.

In case if you can read my previous posts, I have mentioned and will repeat here, pmln will not expose their own abuse of public funds by posting proof of the same which in turn you smartly tell me to post.

 

[Browncaps]

They are here to take what they can. Do you remember when they used govt helicopters to deliver food. These thugs are the most disgusting, immoral losers on the face of the earth and the less said about the defenders the better

Yes. Convicted ganja ordered food from Lahore via helicopters using public funds.

Wait till major tells me to provide the receipt even though pmln never challenged any such reports of their abuse of public funds.

Remember showbaz never challenged Daily Mail who exposed his corruption of earthquake victims funds.

 

[Major]

Not at all, what I am saying is he deliberately uses his position to rake in profits for his own business, then shamelessly uses public funds to live in unnecessary luxury for a near default nation.

In case if you can read my previous posts, I have mentioned and will repeat here, pmln will not expose their own abuse of public funds by posting proof of the same which in turn you smartly tell me to post.

you clearly dont know about AGPR.

 

[Major]

[MENTION=133640]Browncaps[/MENTION]

If you knew what AGPR does you wouldn't be making claims that Govt is using govt revenue and not recording it.

 

[Browncaps]

If you knew what AGPR does you wouldn't be making claims that Govt is using govt revenue and not recording it.

Lying about miftah using his own money and not state funds to stay in a 7 star hotel and then knowing full well that imported government will not expose their abuse of funds by posting paperwork in public or in media so you are demanding proof of said abuse.

I am not saying they did not record it internally, I am saying as its misuse of funds, they will not post it in public as explained in earlier paragraph.

No amount of deflecting will change the fact that ppp and pmln are corrupt and Pakistani public are slowly but surely taking a stand against their theft and treason.

 

[Major]

Lying about miftah using his own money and not state funds to stay in a 7 star hotel and then knowing full well that imported government will not expose their abuse of funds by posting paperwork in public or in media so you are demanding proof of said abuse.

I am not saying they did not record it internally, I am saying as its misuse of funds, they will not post it in public as explained in earlier paragraph.

No amount of deflecting will change the fact that ppp and pmln are corrupt and Pakistani public are slowly but surely taking a stand against their theft and treason.

you are making allegations upon allegations. Any journalist that does investigative work can easily go to AGPR and use their contacts or go to the said hotel and pull out a print.

Just because i ask for proof and you cant give, doesnt make me a liar. You are the one making the allegation, hence the onus is on your to provide the proof.

I dont know how am i deflecting when you make allegations and cant provide proof and than have to cook up a story

 

[Browncaps]

you are making allegations upon allegations. Any journalist that does investigative work can easily go to AGPR and use their contacts or go to the said hotel and pull out a print.

Just because i ask for proof and you cant give, doesnt make me a liar. You are the one making the allegation, hence the onus is on your to provide the proof.

I dont know how am i deflecting when you make allegations and cant provide proof and than have to cook up a story

Thank you for associating me with multiple renowned and respected journalists and media channels because they stated these facts not ''allegations''. They have posted proof, if you deliberately ignore it the same way showbaz ran from security committee meeting on the infamous letter, then I cannot help. But you certainly cannot change facts that misuse of funds was reported on and exposed. Multiple talk shows discussed the same.

I asked you to prove ppp is not corrupt, please post proof of the same in the relevant thread, I am waiting.

 

[Major]

Thank you for associating me with multiple renowned and respected journalists and media channels because they stated these facts not ''allegations''. They have posted proof, if you deliberately ignore it the same way showbaz ran from security committee meeting on the infamous letter, then I cannot help. But you certainly cannot change facts that misuse of funds was reported on and exposed. Multiple talk shows discussed the same.

I asked you to prove ppp is not corrupt, please post proof of the same in the relevant thread, I am waiting.

ok if they posted the proof than plz share the proof here that the govt paid for miftahs stay. I dont care what he said or she said. Plz provide the actual proof.

Also, if you want to discuss PPP, go discuss them on the relevant thread. You are the one interested you can go make a thread on it.

 

[Browncaps]

ok if they posted the proof than plz share the proof here that the govt paid for miftahs stay. I dont care what he said or she said. Plz provide the actual proof.

Also, if you want to discuss PPP, go discuss them on the relevant thread. You are the one interested you can go make a thread on it.

It's a fact which I have repeatedly mentioned as has Bewal in previous posts which you are ignoring same way your beloved ECP ignored rigging by chor khandaans. You are no one to demand anything, same was explained to you by another poster in another thread when you kept demanding a summary from them.

I will repeat multiple media outlets and journalists reported and imported government did not dispute it in the slightest as its true.

There are multiple threads on ppps corruption, forcing people to vote for them via threats etc. and damage they caused to Pakistan, have the courage to post proof there, its a challenge. Your lame evasion attempts have been debunked hundreds of times at least.

If you feel miftah spent his own money and not state funds, please post proof instead of posting lame claims about receipts etc.

 

[Gayle_Force]

I actually feel bad for Miftah. The guy has to be the first finance minister ever to receive more abuse and disrespect from his own party and allies than that is received from the opposition.

 

[Major]

I actually feel bad for Miftah. The guy has to be the first finance minister ever to receive more abuse and disrespect from his own party and allies than that is received from the opposition.

And this shows his great work. Economics is above politics.

 

[Browncaps]

And this shows his great work. Economics is above politics.

So you appreciate that a convicted criminal on bail like maryam can tag him on twitter and demand that he reduce imported dog food prices and he quietly accepts it knowing his place?

 

[Browncaps]

He should try stand up comedy

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">1) Mir sahib I said I will not add one penny of new taxes or levies to the price. And I have not. But you know Hamid sahib that the fuel price summary is moved by OGRA and sent to Finance division through the Petroleum division. We get it only a few hours before prices are set. <a href="https://t.co/38N2PD3qyQ">https://t.co/38N2PD3qyQ</a></p>— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) <a href="https://twitter.com/MiftahIsmail/status/1559401089791033344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Gayle_Force]

And this shows his great work. Economics is above politics.

Oh yea he has done an amazing job in ensuring PTIs comeback.

His great work is exposed by his clip last year when he was threatening that PMLN will not allow even one paisa rise in petrol and the same guy raised petrol prices to historic levels. The guy is a joke, ultimately COAS had to step in to save Miftahs skin.

 

[Savak]

Even Miftah Ismails own PML-N party has zero respect for him. He gets c scolded in public by Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz

 

[Major]

Oh yea he has done an amazing job in ensuring PTIs comeback.

His great work is exposed by his clip last year when he was threatening that PMLN will not allow even one paisa rise in petrol and the same guy raised petrol prices to historic levels. The guy is a joke, ultimately COAS had to step in to save Miftahs skin.

So you are saying petrol prices should not had been risen?

You are saying that this guy is a joke because he rised petrol prices?

 

[Gayle_Force]

So you are saying petrol prices should not had been risen?

You are saying that this guy is a joke because he rised petrol prices?

This guy is a joke because just a few months ago when he was in opposition he was screaming that PMLN will not let petrol price increase by one paisa. At that time, there was also market pressure on petrol prices but this guy decided to play politics on this issue.

Now that he is in government he says this should not be a political issue. The hypocrisy is amazing. As a finance minister this guy has made several appalling statements that have caused significant harm to the Pakistani financial market.

Like I said, COAS had to come in to mask this guy’s incompetence. Lastly, his own party has disowned turned him and humiliated him publicly to turn him into a joke.

 

[Bewal Express]

So you are saying petrol prices should not had been risen?

You are saying that this guy is a joke because he rised petrol prices?

Look at your own silly posts under IK and then look at your own posts when your crooks came to power. As you lie so much i guarantee you cant remember what you wrote.

 

[Bewal Express]

This guy is a joke because just a few months ago when he was in opposition he was screaming that PMLN will not let petrol price increase by one paisa. At that time, there was also market pressure on petrol prices but this guy decided to play politics on this issue.

Now that he is in government he says this should not be a political issue. The hypocrisy is amazing. As a finance minister this guy has made several appalling statements that have caused significant harm to the Pakistani financial market.

Like I said, COAS had to come in to mask this guy’s incompetence. Lastly, his own party has disowned turned him and humiliated him publicly to turn him into a joke.

The bigger joke is a guy that is defending him when he jabbered on about prices under IK and suddenly it was all halal.

 

[Major]

This guy is a joke because just a few months ago when he was in opposition he was screaming that PMLN will not let petrol price increase by one paisa. At that time, there was also market pressure on petrol prices but this guy decided to play politics on this issue.

Now that he is in government he says this should not be a political issue. The hypocrisy is amazing. As a finance minister this guy has made several appalling statements that have caused significant harm to the Pakistani financial market.

Like I said, COAS had to come in to mask this guy’s incompetence. Lastly, his own party has disowned turned him and humiliated him publicly to turn him into a joke.

so you want petrol prices be below market prices and the economy should be screwed over?

 

[Gayle_Force]

so you want petrol prices be below market prices and the economy should be screwed over?

That’s what you wanted just a few months ago and now you have changed your tune same as Miftah. Again I am not going to get into this, I debated this with you for days on the infamous thread you created about rising petrol prices in Pakistan. At that time you were hell bent on equating petrol prices with salaries earned in Pakistan when the two clearly do not correlate as petrol prices are based on international market and salaries are based on Pakistan’s domestic market. This is something you were unwilling to accept in that thread. Feel free to go back and read it.