Miftah Ismail hints at early exit, says ‘may not have much time’

: With the country’s economy teetering amid record-high inflation, Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail has hinted at his early exit, saying that although the coalition government has 13 months, he may not have that much time.

In his address during an event at Karachi’s Institute of Business Administration (IBA), the finance minister spoke at length about politics, national growth strategy, tax collection, increasing population and other important issues hampering economic stabilisation.

“The government has 13 months but I may not have that much time,” said Ismail.

His statement comes in the backdrop of dissatisfaction within PML-N over the Shahbaz Sharif government’s policies. 

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had recently left a government meeting over a petrol price disagreement and expressed anger with the minister for increasing the fuel prices, according to party vice president Maryam Nawaz.

According to senior journalist Suhail Warraich, who met the PML-N supremo in London, Nawaz Sharif was not pleased with the party’s narrative, saying that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif should himself reach out to the masses to explain the government’s policies and causes of inflation.