Protests costing country a whopping Rs190bn a day, says Aurangzeb

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Sunday revealed that Pakistan's economy suffers a staggering loss of Rs190 billion daily due to the closure of roads and shutdowns caused by the opposition's protest calls. 

The minister made these comments as caravans of the PTI is marching towards Islamabad to stage its "do or die" protest at the federal capital's D-Chowk on the call of party founder Imran Khan.

The opposition party announced staging a protest against the "illegal" incarceration of Khan, other party leaders and workers, "stolen mandate" in February 8 general elections and 26th Constitutional Amendment.

Speaking to Geo News, Aurangzeb said that tax collections decrease due to lockdown and protests while exports affected by the disruptions in business.

"The protests cause additional expenses on security in a bid to maintain peace," said the finance minister, adding that the IT and tech sector also suffered losses.

He said that the Ministry of Finance has also prepared a report on the losses incurred due to the protests, according to which, the GDP suffers an estimated loss of Rs144 billion daily.

"According to the report, the decrease in exports due to the strikes causes a daily loss of Rs26 billion," said the finance minister. "Foreign direct investment is also affected causing a loss of Rs3 billion daily."

Aurangzeb further revealed that the provinces suffer separately due to protests, adding that they are incurring losses of Rs26 billion on a daily basis in the agricultural sector.

The loss faced by the provinces in the industrial sector is more than Rs20 billion, he added.