Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said his government’s move to increase fuel prices was needed to avoid the country from facing bankruptcy.Pakistan on Thursday raised the price of petroleum products by ₹ 30 per liter. After the increase, the price of gasoline is now at ₹ 179.85, diesel at ₹ 174.15, kerosene in ₹ 155.95 and light diesel at ₹ 148.41.
In his first speech to the country after taking over power last month, Shehbaz spoke a lot about the domestic problems faced by the government.The main focus is the assistance package for vulnerable groups after the government raises petroleum prices to get a package of assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).The Prime Minister said the steps to increase fuel prices were needed to avoid Pakistan facing bankruptcy.
Shehbaz said the decision to raise the price of petroleum was difficult. “We with a heavy price increase the price of petroleum; we have to make decisions in difficult economic situations. This is due to an extraordinary increase in oil prices in the global market,” he said.”The previous government has announced subsidies that cannot be supported by the Ministry of Finance. We make decisions by preferring the State for our own interests,” he said.
To reduce the impact of an increase in petroleum prices, he announced the assistance package ₹ 28 billion per month to provide ₹ 2,000 per month to around 14 million families.These families consist of nearly 80 million people who are one third of the total country’s population,” he said.Shhebaz also blamed the previous government for the current increase in petroleum for being committed to the IMF for this increase.
“You make an agreement with the IMF, not us; you accept their difficult conditions, not us; you burden people with inflation, not us; you push the country into an economic puddle, not us …,” he said.He also announced the launch consultation with all political parties because it approved the economic charter, so that no government in the future could change the country’s economic direction.
Justifying voting without trust in former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Shehbaz said the government had previously destroyed the country. “We changed a corrupt government at the request of the people,” he said.Shehbaz was in power last month when he formed a coalition government after Khan was removed through a voice without trust. The new government faces extraordinary economic and political challenges but has begun to make difficult decisions, starting an increase in petroleum prices, to overcome this problem.
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