ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has said Pakistan would be open to buy Russian oil at cheaper rates if it was offered and if no sanctions were to be levied over such a deal.
When questioned in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson if Pakistan was open to procuring cheap Russian oil just as India was doing, the finance minister said he would “surely consider” it.
However, Miftah Ismail remarked that he did not think it was possible for Pakistani banks to make arrangements to buy Russian oil, also claiming that Moscow had not offered any such discounted deals to Pakistan anyway.
“The previous government talked about buying oil from Russia but I think Russia is under sanctions and they haven’t responded to the letter written by the previous government,” he said.
Miftah Ismail said that with Russia being under sanctions, it was “very difficult” for him to imagine buying oil from there.
It is pertinent to mention that the 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.
PTI leader Shireen Mazari disagreed with Ismail’s remarks, labelling 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.”
Meanwhile, on the subject of imported wheat, Miftah Ismail said Pakistan had asked both Ukraine and Russia and would be “happy to buy” from whichever country was ready to sell.
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