While on an official visit to the US, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar stated on Monday that Pakistan was prepared to purchase fuel from Russia at the same price that neighboring India was receiving it.
In response to a question from the media, he expressed his hope that the West would not object to the import of the petroleum at a reduced price given Pakistan’s financial suffering following the recent, extraordinary floods that left major portions of the country in ruins.
The coalition administration in the Center has enough time, according to the finance minister, to get back on the political scene. “Ten months will be sufficient for the government to regain popularity and political standing.
“We had to choose one of the two options: either save our politics or save the state. We choose the second,” he remarked in response to the by-vote outcome. When asked about US President Biden’s remarks on Pakistan’s nuclear programme, he responded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had already stated that the nation has a strong command and control structure in place. He continued, “It is frequently acknowledged by US authorities.”
During my four days in Washington, Ishaq Dar stated, “I have held 58 meetings with the presidents of international financial institutions, the US, Saudi Arabia and other countries’ authorities.”
In order to examine the floods in Pakistan, he claimed that the World Bank (WB) and the UK organised a roundtable conference. There, he noted, the UNDP, ADB, and WB authorities submitted a combined report. The research claims that Pakistan’s damages as a result of the floods totaled $32.40 billion. Pakistan needs more than $16 billion for the restoration work, according to the ministry.
He claimed that during the conference, a strong plea for support for Pakistan was made to the international community. He promised that Pakistan would fulfil all of its obligations and finish the current IMF programme by June 2023. “Reforms are important to us. The remaining five to ten percent of the work will be finished soon, he noted.
The minister claimed that targeted subsidies were not a problem for the donors. They were against all forms of subsidies. He said that the IMF may have made reference to the government’s electricity subsidies in their criticism. He made it clear that “we are doing nothing without their consultations.”
Ishaq Dar expressed hope that Pakistan would be removed off the Financial Action Task Force’s “grey list” (FATF). Pakistan, he claimed, worked very hard to get off the “grey list.” He hoped that after a meeting that was scheduled for a few days, the government will be successful in getting the nation off the FATF’s “grey list.”
Ishaq Dar met with Pakistani-American tech entrepreneurs earlier and they talked about the importance of the IT sector for Pakistan’s economic growth. The tech business owners gave the finance minister their word that they would work with him to develop Pakistan’s IT industry. Additionally, Ishaq Dar met with the CEO of the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC). Engineer Hani Salem was grateful for Pakistan’s assistance with the ITFC.
