Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail held a press conference Thursday to once again explain why Pakistan is paying through the nose for petrol at the pump.

“Imran Khan promised the IMF that he would increase the price of petrol,” Miftah said. “According to this promise, the price of petrol should be Rs245. Trying to maintain this support price is costing us Rs102 billion a month.”

Compare this to the Rs45 billion needed to run the civilian government, he said. “We have to borrow from the market,” he said. “The previous government created problems for the country.”

“No government in the history of the country has sold petrol at a loss. The government is currently selling petrol at a loss of Rs30.”