Pakistan cannot afford subsidy on petroleum anymore: Miftah Ismail

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has said that his ministry will not impose any more taxes and levies on petroleum products after lowering oil prices in the world market.

In an interview to a private news channel finance minister clearly said that the government cannot afford to subsidise petroleum products or bear losses.

There were widely spread speculations that the prices of petroleum products will be slashed by 15 rupees per litre in proportion to the lower oil prices in the global market.

Replying to a question Miftah Ismail said that “it will be more appropriate and better if Saudi Arabia confirms about providing dollars for petroleum products”. “I will not comment further over this matter,” he added.

He said the IMF had set a condition for Pakistan to arrange $4 billion worth of loans from somewhere before seeking help from the lending institution.” He said the country has successfully managed to arrange the required loan from some friendly countries.