Budget most difficult in history of Pakistan: Khaqan Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and PMLN Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has termed the next fiscal year’s budget the most difficult in the history of Pakistan.

He hoped that about winter, petroleum prices in the world would slash by half as the Russia-Ukraine war could end, with Europe deciding to reduce its consumption as a result of availability of natural gas in excess.

In an exclusive chat with The News here on Friday evening, Abbasi said the government had given concessions to the masses despite the fact that hardly a space was available to create scope for such relief. The price and cost of every imported commodity were at the highest echelon. For example, sugar, wheat, palm oil, petrol, diesel, pulses and all other items which were imported by Pakistan were priced high in the world market. IMF conditionalities were harsh and unfortunately rupee had gone weak at the face of dollar, he said.

The former prime minister reminded that the relief given to government employees wasn’t an easy proposition since the provinces would have to follow suit. Its impact would go further high in that case. The relief to government employees covered one-fourth of the whole population of the country since the relief would go to eight crore people associated with the employees. He reminded that despite difficult circumstances, the government allocated a handsome amount for the PSDP. This step was never taken before in the history of Pakistan, he said, adding that the fiscal surplus had been earmarked as Rs 800 million while the deposed PTI government determined it at Rs 550 million. But, at the end of the year, it would actually be around Rs 490 million. If the provinces maintained their vigilance, it could conveniently go to Rs 800 million, he said and added Rs 50 billion could be earned through petroleum levy.

He predicted that the rupee would become stable in the last quarter of the fiscal year. He paid tribute to the Saudi government for production of maximum petroleum products, keeping a check on its price from further hiking. Saudi Arabia is producing eleven and a half million barrels a day while the world demand was eighty to eighty-one million barrels. The gap was of three million barrels. Once Russian oil was again in the market and its war with Ukraine came to an end, the price of oil in the international market could be slashed by half, he said, adding that POL price could come down as low as 70 to 80 dollars. The government in Pakistan in that case could reduce the petroleum price by 40 per cent.