PM Shehbaz rejected summary for fuel price increase: Marriyum

Information minister accuses former PTI government of acceding to harsh IMF conditions to secure loan

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Thursday announced that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif rejected the summary for the increase in prices of petroleum products, accusing the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government of 'incompetence' stating that citizens must not suffer due to the mistakes of the former government.

In a statement, Aurangzeb added that the government of former Prime Minister Imran Khan acceded to the harsh conditions of the International Monitory Fund (IMF) and increased the prices of petroleum products in order to secure a loan from the financial watchdog.

“This government is making every possible effort to not further burden people already facing the brunt of high inflation,” the information minister added.

On Tuesday, the Express Tribune reported that the government was likely to make a partial increase in oil prices to do away with the subsidies in order to meet commitment with the IMF amid the highest impact of global oil prices on domestic oil rates in Pakistan.

The likelihood of a hike in oil prices emerged a day after Pakistan and the IMF agreed, in principle, to extend the stalled bailout programme by up to one year and increase the loan size to $8 billion. Subject to the final modalities, the global lender agreed that the programme will be extended by another nine months to one year as against the original end-period of September 2022, the sources added.

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Following the rumours of an increase in prices of petroleum products, there were reports of a shortage of oil in different parts of the country.

The previous prime minister had frozen oil prices till the budget amid political turmoil.

The oil and gas regulatory authority (Ogra) had moved a summary to increase the price of diesel over Rs51 per litre to do away with price differential claims from April 16.

However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had refused to increase prices and turned down the summary.

Faced with panic buying and acute criticism over the supposed shortage of diesel, the All Petroleum Dealers Association warned of shutting down the petrol pumps across the country over unwarranted public wrath.

Speaking at a news conference, the association’s information secretary Nauman Ali Butt claimed that international and local companies were involved in the diesel crisis, regretting that people were unfair in casting suspicions over the petrol dealers.

He said that there was a scarcity of diesel in major districts of Punjab and informed that the association was trying to talk to Ogra about the issue.