The federal government has surrendered to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) condition and declared a huge increase in petrol and diesel prices of up to Rs 30 per litre.
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has said in a press conference that the government has decided to raise the price of petroleum products, which will take effect at 12:00 midnight tonight.
The finance minister announced a Rs 30 per litre increase in fuel, diesel, light diesel, and kerosene oil prices.
Petrol will now cost Rs 179.86 per litre, high-speed diesel (HSD) Rs 174.15, kerosene oil Rs 155.56, and light diesel Rs 148.31 rupees, following the recent hike.
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Miftah Ismail stated that the government is already providing a Rs 56 per litre subsidy and has already sustained a Rs 55 billion financial loss in just 15 days.
He underlined that Pakistan could not obtain the IMF loan unless petrol prices were raised. The finance minister stated that the government will wait for a decline in petroleum product prices on the world market, but that a loan from the IMF was required at this time.
He claimed that in light of the current economic crisis, Prime Minister Shehbaz made a difficult decision. He went on to say that the government is putting national interests first, while also criticizing the previous administration’s policies for raising inflation.
Pakistan is hoping for a $3 billion loan from International Monetary Fund. That sum would be added to the country’s foreign-exchange reserves, which currently stand at $10.2 billion, barely enough to cover two months’ worth of imports. Meanwhile, this year, the government faces a $45 billion trade deficit.
The government had banked its expectations on the program’s reinstatement, which was intended to bring stabilization to the financial markets, the rapidly falling Pakistani rupee, and the drying up foreign exchange reserves.
