Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb has said the ongoing protests by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are resulting in a daily loss of Rs190 billion (USD 688.2 million) to the federal government, Radio Pakistan reported on Monday.

In a statement, Aurangzeb stated that the Ministry of Finance has compiled a report which states that the country’s GDP is suffering a daily loss of Rs140 billion due to the protests, with losses to the IT and telecom sectors not included in this assessment.

Aurangzeb’s remarks came amid calls of protests from PTI, which sent the top federal government functionaries into a frenzy as the ruling side reiterated to foil the protest movement at every cost.

Thousands of charged loyalists of Imran Khan, the jailed founding chairman of PTI and ex-premier, from across the country, launched the “decisive” long march on Sunday towards the federal capital, removing all the barricades set up by the government to stop their way.

In a bid to foil the long march, the police also arrested hundreds of PTI supporters from twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad as residents took to the streets in big numbers to voice strong support to Khan’s final call, pressing the government to meet their three demands – release of PTI political members from jails, abolishment of 26th controversial Constitutional Amendment and return of PTI’s “stolen mandate.”

Meanwhile, Aurangzeb in his statement said that the daily export-related losses amount to Rs26 billion, while foreign investments are suffering a daily setback of Rs3 billion.

“As a result, the federal government alone is incurring losses of Rs190 billion each day, with provincial losses expected to be even higher,” he said.