‘Difficult to imagine buying Russian oil’, says Miftah Ismail in CNN interview
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said that Russia had not offered Pakistan to purchase its oil but Pakistan would be open to buy Russian oil if opportunity arise but at this time due to sanctions, it is very difficult for Pakistan to buy oil from the Russia.
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has said that if oil is offered from Russia and if no sanctions are imposed on such an agreement, then Pakistan is ready to buy oil at a cheaper price.
In an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson, when asked if Pakistan was ready to buy cheap Russian oil like India, the finance minister said we would “definitely consider” it.
However, Miftah Ismail said that he did not think it was possible for Pakistani banks to make arrangements to buy Russian oil and also claimed that Russia had not offered any such purchase to Pakistan at a discounted rate.
“The previous government talked about buying oil from Russia, but I think Russia is under sanctions and they have not responded to the letter written by the previous government,” he told CNN.
“Russia is currently under sanctions, so it is very difficult for us to imagine buying oil from them,” Ismail added.
It is noteworthy that the current US sanctions on Russia do not prevent other countries from buying Russian oil, although Biden administration officials have considered some secondary sanctions that may limit such purchases in the future.
Disagreeing with Miftah Ismail’s remarks, PTI leader Shireen Mazari described him as “ignorant” and said that there were no restrictions on buying oil from Russia. Ask India, what is stopping them from buying oil except the fear of America?”
Meanwhile, on the issue of imported wheat, Ismail told CNN that Pakistan had asked both Ukraine and Russia and would be “happy to buy” any country willing to sell.
Pakistan’s oil imports face foreign exchange barriers, and Pakistan’s oil industry faces challenges in managing international financing for the import of crude and oil products.
