PM Shehbaz Sharif leaves for London tonight to meet Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will likely leave for London tonight to attend an urgent meeting of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) summoned by party supremo Nawaz Sharif, ARY News reported on Tuesday citing sources.

Well-informed sources told ARY News that federal ministers including Marriyum Aurangzeb, Saad Rafique, Khurram Dastagir, Ahsan Iqbal and others are expected to leave London tomorrow (Wednesday).

PML-N Senior Vice-President and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is already in London.

The meeting, as per sources, will discuss the country’s overall political and economic situation. The former prime minister will consult party leadership over some other important matters and big decisions are expected in coming days.

Moreover, decisions regarding power-sharing, the next general elections and the Punjab situation will also be taken during the meeting.

Sources said that former PM Nawaz will consult party leadership over early elections after some senior PML-N leaders have expressed concerns over delaying election reforms legislation and general elections.

Economic woes

It is worth mentioning here that the coalition government, led by PM Shehbaz Sharif, is facing several economic challenges since coming into power back in April 2022 after Imran Khan was dethroned as Pakistan PM through a no-confidence motion.

The new coalition setup, since then, has approached International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Saudi government for bailout packages. The federal government recently also held talks with UAE economic team in Lahore for “financial support”.

It is learnt that Finance Minister Miftah Ismail agreed with International Monetary Funds’ (IMF) recommendations to reduce fuel subsidies phase-wise.

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

According to sources, talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could begin on 18 May in Qatar.

NAWAZ SHARIF SUMMONS PML-N MEETING TO DISCUSS COUNTRY’S OVERALL SITUATION

It is pertinent to mention here that the government is currently giving a subsidy of Rs65 billion on petroleum products, Rs21 billion on petrol and a subsidy of Rs44 billion on diesel.