Tough decisions to revive national economy: Musadik

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik Friday said the government had taken tough decisions on subsidies on petrol and diesel to revive the national economy and steer the country out of financial crunch.

Addressing a news conference along with senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, he said the previous PTI government had provided unjustified subsidies on petroleum products without any budgetary allocations and approval from quarters concerned like the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and federal cabinet.

Terming the subsidies 'landmines' set up by the PTI government before facing a no-confidence motion, he said it had put around Rs700-800 billion extra burden on the national exchequer in three months, if taxes were included. Drawing a comparison, the minister said around Rs528 billion expenses were incurred annually to run the affairs of the whole federal government.

Besides, Musadik said, the previous government had also violated the commitments made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about the subsidies for getting financial assistance. “The PTI government, as a pre-condition, had signed a contract with the IMF that it will increase the prices and impose petroleum levy and sales tax. But it violated the sovereign commitment with the international financial institutions,” he said.

The minister said the PTI did it all to push the country towards default and bankruptcy for political gains, and recalled Imran Khan’s recent statements about the country’s strategic assets and disintegration. “The coalition government, under the dynamic leadership of Shehbaz Sharif, is committed to taking due care of poor segments of society by extending financial assistance to them,” he added. After thorough deliberation, he said, the government would give a monthly stipend of Rs2,000 to persons having Rs35,000-40,000 or less monthly income.

As per the calculation, he said, almost four families out of six, have Rs37,000 per month income. With the corrective measures taken by the government, the minister expressed confidence that in the upcoming few months, there would be financial stability and the country would be on the sustainable path to progress and development.

Now, he said, the stock market has started performing well and the rupee is getting stable against the dollar. He said the required measures had been taken to advance negotiations with international financial institutions, including the IMF. “The government believes in increasing the productivity of industrial units, so that more jobs could be created besides moving the economic wheel at a steady pace,” he added.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said there was no country in the world that provided fuel to consumers below the purchase price, but in Pakistan it was happening as even the current government did not impose any levy and sales tax. He said the reasons behind the hike in fuel prices was global inflation and devaluation of the rupee against the dollar. “The fuel price hike was an extremely difficult decision which was taken after thorough deliberation. If the step had not been taken, the national economy would have collapsed,” he said.