ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said that the government would provide targeted subsidies to 14 million families to give them relief from petrol price hike. He said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also promised this relief in his address to the nation.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced that the government will include a Rs28 billion package in the upcoming budget to provide relief to the masses to offset the impact of the petrol price hike.
The prime minister had said that aside from the relief package, the government would immediately provide Rs2,000 for around 85 million people to help them fight the effects of inflation.
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the government will provide targeted subsidies to 14 million families, who are living below the poverty line.
Miftah further added that “7.3 million beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) are already getting Rs2000, and the government is planning to add 7 million more people to the database who would receive Rs2000 in terms of fuel subsidy.”
“It includes the families whose monthly income is Rs35,000 or less than that and it will benefit 85 million people,” he added.
Those already registered with the BISP programme will receive a message from the government, however, we will issue a mobile number for those who are not enrolled in the BISP programme, said the minister.
“They will be asked to send their names and CNIC numbers to the phone number (that will be provided by the government), and after the completion of the verification process, which will take 2 to 3 days, the government will add them to the beneficiaries’ list,” he added.
Agreeing with PPP’s senator Mustafa Nawaz’s statement in which he said that “the decision to go to International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be taken by a government with a fresh mandate.”
Miftah said, “He is right, the new government will strike a new deal with the IMF after taking a fresh mandate next year, but this is a coalition government and our priority is to steer the country out of economic crisis and maintain an economic stability.”
