ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar said Finance Minister Miftah Ismail refused to buy cheap oil from Russia over the fear of United States sanctions.
Miftah Ismail had said Pakistan would be open to buying Russian oil at cheaper rates if it was offered and if no sanctions were to be levied over such a deal.
In a statement on Twitter, Asad Umar said that India, Sri Lanka, European countries and others are buying cheap oil from Russia to reduce the burden of inflation on their citizens.
PTI leader Shireen Mazari also disagreed with Ismail’s remarks, calling him “ignorant” and saying: “There are no sanctions on purchasing oil from Russia. Ask India. So what’s actually stopping him from buying other than fear of US.”
Speaking to CNN, the finance minister had said Russia had not offered cheaper oil to Pakistan, contrary to what was claimed by former prime minister Imran Khan.
“The previous government wrote a letter to Russia federation that letter was never responded to. Russia has also not offered us any oil and it is now under sanction so it very difficult for me to imagine buying Russian oil,” FM Ismail said.
“If Russia were to offer us oil at cheaper rate and there were no sanctions on Pakistan to buy Russian oil sure, we would consider that but at this point I think that it would be not possible for Pakistani banks to open LCs (Letters of Credit) or to arrange to buy Russian oil and nor for that matter has the Russian federation offered to sell us any oil.”
He said Pakistan was willing to buy wheat either from Russia and Ukraine. “We have actually asked, either Ukraine or Russia, whichever country sells us wheat we are happy to buy wheat from them,” he said.
“We have talked about buying wheat from Russia and the previous government talked about buying oil from Russia but I think Russia is under sanctions.”
Imran Khan has criticized the government for not pursuing his administration’s “deal” for the procurement of oil from Russia on 30 percent cheaper rates.
The government increased the prices of petroleum products by Rs30 per litre to help revive the $6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program it secured in 2019.
According to a report, current US sanctions against Russia do not prevent other countries from buying Russian oil, although Biden administration officials have considered secondary sanctions that could restrict those purchases in future.
