Govt still working on petrol package for low-income people
ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik said that the government was still working on the mechanism to provide petrol relief package to low-income people.
Musadik Malik said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the petrol package for the needy people last week.
The Ministry of Petroleum has given six weeks to draft the relief package. In the proposed package, rich will be charged more for petrol while low-income people will get relief in prices.
He said, “It is not a subsidy. It is a pricing scheme. It is a relief programme for the poor.”
Meanwhile, a ministry spokesman said the price difference would be in the range of Rs100 a liter for the rich and the low-income people.
Earlier, Managing Director of the IMF said that Pakistan should tax the rich people and spend on poor.
However, when Prime Minister announced the proposed ‘petrol relief package’, IMF suddenly woke up and challenged the decision saying “IMF was not consulted” over this subsidy programme.
Moreover, the IMF resident representative in Islamabad stated that the Pakistani government did not consult with the global lender regarding its petrol subsidy for low-income groups.
According to Perez, the government did not discuss its plan to increase fuel prices for affluent motorists to fund a subsidy for lower-income individuals with the IMF.
She added that IMF staff is currently gathering more information about the program’s operation, cost, targeting, protections against fraud and abuse, and offsetting measures.
These details will be discussed with the authorities in Pakistan.
Last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the government would subsidize Rs50 per liter to low-income segments under the petroleum relief package.
If the relief package is implemented, it will give relief to millions of inflation-hit poor people in the country.
