KARACHI:Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Monday said that the government could not hike petrol price and it has decided to seek more time from International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the matter.
Talking to media persons in Karachi, the Finance Minister said that his predecessor Shaukat Tarin and former prime minister Imran Khan reached an agreement with the international lender to hike price of petrol by Rs100. Miftah said that the previous government placed land mines everywhere for the new government.
Talking about statement of former minister regarding allocation of funds for subsidy on petroleum products, Miftah said that he could say on oath that Shaukat Tarin was lying and asked him to show where he hid the funds.
He said Imran Khan’s 2014 sit-in caused postponement of Chinese president’s visit to the Pakistan and today IMF team that was due in Islamabad for talks has declined to visit because of Imran Khan’s sit-ins. The Finance Minister expressed the hope that in next two days he will succeed in having agreement with IMF in the best interest of the country and the people.