Former Federal Minister for Energy, Hammad Azhar, said subsidizing petroleum products would not be necessary if Pakistan bought 30 percent cheaper oil from Russia.
Talking at a press conference in Lahore, the former minister raised the point that the current government has created a self-imposed crisis of load-shedding and diesel. He added, “It is mismanagement as farmers are anxious about diesel today, while inflation has climbed beyond 13 percent.” Hammad said that during PTI’s tenure, foreign reserves were on the rise. Â
The PTI leader said that PTI’s government had not given the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the authority to fix the prices of petroleum products. Commenting on the new government’s promise of stabilizing the value of the Pakistani rupee, he said, “People were expecting the government would share how to stabilize the Pakistani rupee.”
Hammad said that the PTI government was in talks with Russia about purchasing petroleum products. “If the incumbent government is unable to manage the affairs, it should announce the general election forthwith,” he added.
