ISLAMABAD: The government may make a budgetary allocation in the federal budget for the financial year 2022-23 for targeted fuel subsidies as Rs56.71 subsidy per litre on High-Speed Diesel (HSD) and Rs17.02 per litre on petrol are yet to pass on to consumers.
Talking to Business Recorder, Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik on budgeting allocation for a targeted subsidy in the upcoming federal budget which will be announced on June 10, said: “It should not be and I hope so not.”
Earlier in a press conference, he said that talk on the remaining amount of subsidy on petroleum products would again be held with the IMF. “We also have to follow the prime minister’s directives to save the poor from hike in petroleum prices through targeted subsidy,” he added.
He maintained that the impact in the petroleum products’ hike would be borne by the rich and the government, while the poor would be benefited by subsidized prices of petroleum products under a pilot project. A mechanism to size the impact of increasing petroleum products’ price globally would soon be taken and details of the mechanism would also be shared with the IMF, he added.
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He further said that the federal government had been working on multiple proposals to save energy like reducing working days from six to five, etc.
The minister alleged that former Prime Minister Imran Khan took wrong decisions which brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy.
Referring to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) claim that Pakistan could import oil from Russia at 30 percent discounted price, Musadik Malik said the PTI leader Imran Khan should share any government-to-government agreement or MOU with Russia for long-term supply of oil, or if the previous PTI government was going to buy the petroleum products at lower prices.
He said that the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) met 50 percent fuel consumption through a competitive bidding process and some fuel was imported with a 50 years old supply contract with Qatar. “We welcome PTI leader’s move if they arrange petrol on cheaper rates through PSO,” he added.
Rejecting Imran Khan’s statement about lower petroleum prices in India, he said that the petroleum prices in the neighbouring country are much higher.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022