ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said Pakistan was facing Rs190billion loss daily through the protests being taken out by the opposition.
The minister said protests disturbed businesses, reduced tax collections and forced the government to spend extra money on security to maintain law and order.
He said GDP suffered Rs144billion loss daily due to the protest rally and exports faced Rs22billion loss daily, adding IT and Tele-Come sectors suffered huge loss. The minister has prepared a report on losses the country is facing daily as result of the rally of the opposition.
“According to the report, the decrease in exports due to the strikes causes a daily loss of Rs26 billion,” said the finance minister. “Foreign direct investment is also affected, causing a loss of Rs3 billion daily.”
Aurangzeb revealed that the provinces suffer separately due to protests, adding that they are incurring losses of Rs26 billion on a daily basis in the agricultural sector.
The loss faced by the provinces in the industrial sector is more than Rs20 billion, he added.
The minister made these comments as caravans of the PTI is marching towards Islamabad to stage its “do or die” protest at the federal capital’s D-Chowk on the call of party founder Imran Khan.
The opposition party announced staging a protest against the “illegal” incarceration of Khan, other party leaders and workers, “stolen mandate” in February 8 general elections and 26th Constitutional Amendment.
