No choice other than tough decisions to uplift economy: Miftah

Picture source - Screengrab PTV Parliament

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has said that there is no choice for the government other than going out for difficult decisions. Talking to the media at post budget press conference, the finance minister said that nobody will forgive if Pakistan faces a situation like Sri Lanka. He also said that the country will go through a budget deficit of Rs.4598 billion during the next fiscal year.

Miftah Ismail said that the subsidies on electricity and gas are costing the country up to Rs.1100 billion and Rs.1600 billion respectively. He emphasized that the government has been taking tough decisions and not taking the money saved to our homes. Criticizing the previous government, the finance minister said that they were supplying the LNG at subsidized rates. He said that we have proposed the collection of more money from the rich and tried to provide relief to the poor and middle classes. Miftah told that the Palm Oil Prices have reached the record highest in the international market; he added that the government has been planning to privatize 14 institutions, details of which will be shared later.

Talking about the rise in government employees’ salaries he said that the government was able to set aside the money from the amount left in the exchequer. The Finance Minister was addressing a post-budget press conference in Islamabad along with State Minister of Finance Aisha Ghous Pasha and Information Minister Mariyam Aurangzeb. Last day the federal government announced the budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 with a total outlay of almost Rs.9.5 trillion.