Interim finance minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar rules out another IMF bailout

ISLAMABAD - The Interim finance and planning minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar rejected the speculation that the caretaker government may approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans.

"The caretaker government cannot hold talks or sign a deal with IMF," said Akhtar, while addressing a press conference alongside other cabinet members.

Explaining the reason behind the Rs4.26 per-liter hike in petrol prices in effect from today, the interim finance minister said the increase in prices follows a certain formula.

"Oil prices are determined by global prices," she said, adding, "All governments have to adjust petroleum prices."

To a question, she said that government was reflecting on debt repayment mechanism keeping in view its reserve position and working to arrange alternate sources of financing.

She said that the government would honour its debt liabilities and it was reflecting on how to do this challenging job.

Besides finance minister, caretaker Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Syed Ali Zafar also addressed the press conference and highlighted the reasons behind the persistent load-shedding in the country.

Zafar, who has been given the portfolio of the Ministry of Law and Justice as well as Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Information in the interim cabinet, said the country has the capability to generate 28,000MW of electricity but is unable to do so owing to the following reasons:

• Electricity production falling short of demand, technical faults, water shortage and transmission losses.


• If there is water in dams and all power plants are running at their full capacity only then we can produce 28,000MW of electricity.


• The demand for electricity is a lot more than supply.


•  The demand for electricity would increase in the summer and presently stood at 23,000-24,000MW.

The interim federal minister also stressed the need for masses to have access to information in a bid to keep an eye on the functioning of the government machinery.

https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/interim-pm-mulks-cabinet-likely-to-take-oath-today/

Zafar vowed to not compromise on Pakistan's security, saying, "We will fully support the Election Commission of Pakistan for a free and fair election."