Pakistan to start using Saudi oil facility on deferred payment from March: Shaukat

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin on Friday told the Senate that Pakistan would start using the Saudi Arabian oil facility on deferred payment from March 2022.

Shaukat Tarin told the house during question hour that the government has tried not to pass on to the people the full burden of international increase in petroleum products. He said, “We have reduced the sales tax and Petroleum Development Levy on petroleum products to provide relief to the masses.”

The finance minister said the foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan had increased over the last one year which would help reduce pressure on the rupee. He said Pakistan received three billion dollars from Saudi Arabia in December 2021 for a period of one year at four per cent interest rate. He said the country’s exports and remittances were increasing whilst the trade deficit reduced by 1.5 billion dollars last month.

To a supplementary question, Shaukat Tarin said Pakistan had met 27 out of 28 conditions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). He said, “We have fulfilled our targets and hoped the country will come out of the grey list in the next review meeting of the FATF.”

Meanwhile, Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz told the house that Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments had started important projects for provision of clean drinking water. He said the Capital Development Authority and Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources had collectively started a project for recharging groundwater level.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said several projects worth billions of rupees had been launched for the development of Balochistan and Gwadar.

Taking the floor, Leader of the House in the Senate Shahzad Waseem regretted the silence of international human rights over the rising religious hatred and extremism in India. Alluding to the harassment of a Muslim girl wearing hijab in Karnataka, he said the worst form of Islamophobia was being seen in India which posed threat to peace and stability.