Petrol subsidies need to be revisited: Miftah Ismail

April 16, 2022 (MLN): The government’s decision to continue petrol and diesel subsidies was a tough one and will have to be revisited as the country is losing Rs21 per litre on petrol and Rs52 per litre on diesel.  Accordingly, it is a loss of Rs36 billion in two weeks, Miftah Ismail, Former Federal Minister of Finance said.

“This expense is more than the cost of running the entire civilian federal government plus the entire BISP/Ehsaas programme," he said on Twitter.

"The ouster government made commitments in writing that not only will they recover the full cost of fuels but also impose an Rs30 per litre levy and 17% sales tax on those fuels. According to the outgoing government’s commitments, the price of petrol should be Rs236 and diesel should be Rs264."

He stated, “Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will not impose such prices plus high taxes on the people. But at the same time, we cannot let our fiscal and external financial position deteriorate further and have our development partners walkout. Tough choices need to be made.”

It is pertinent to note that the fuel price subsidy is coming from increasing govt expenses and raising debt, he noted.

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