Islamabad: If the rise in fuel prices over the last year or so angered Indians, just imagine the plight of Pakistani citizens after the government in our neighbouring country hiked petrol price by Pakistan Rs (PKR) 30 per litre.
To purchase a litre of petrol, Pakistanis are having to shell out Pak Rs 179.85, while diesel costs Pak PKR 174.15 per litre from Thursday midnight, PTI reported.
The price of kerosene shot up to PKR 155.56 while light diesel costs PKR 148.31 per litre.
Pakistan’s Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said that the hike in price of petroleum products is aimed at ensuring the revival of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
Talks between Pakistan government and IMF in Qatar failed to reach an agreement on an economic bailout and the IMF staff-level agreement for the revival of $6 billion programme ended.
Ismail said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had to take a tough decision as the economically-hit nation could have gone in the wrong direction if prices remained stable.
“We cannot let the state sink for the sake of politics,” the FM said.
IMF said on Wednesday emphasised on “urgency of concrete policy actions, including removing fuel and energy subsidies” in Pakistan.
The ousted Imran Khan government had capped prices of petroleum products until June, despite an agreement with the IMF to increase prices.
