KARACHI – Amid the back-breaking inflation in Pakistan, the government has announced to subsidize petrol up to Rs100 for low-income people, who are struggling to pay for basic commodities.
A press release first shared by Prime Minister’s Office said low-income citizens will be given a subsidy under the petroleum relief package as the government decided to protect the common man from the impact of the skyrocketing inflation.
As the relief package was announced, people were curious you know who will get the relief on petrol prices. For the unversed, the government has decided to provide relief to motorcyclists (bike owners) and the owners of 800CC cars, dubbed as small cars.
Minister Musadik Masood Malik said that subsidise petrol will be available only for registered motorcycles and vehicles. People need to show their ID card and one-time password OTP at the petrol pump, and only two to three liters of petrol will be available for each time.
Motorcyclists can take 21 liters of petrol in a month, and if they use more than 21 liters they will have to pay the full price, he said.
Meanwhile, the scheme has not finalised yet as will take some weeks for the government to complete the analysis.
The relief package also raised several questions as Pakistan is struggling to salvage IMF funds however the relief package will not affect the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme as it was dubbed as cross-subsidy and the elite will pay more to grant relief to low-income people.
The recent development comes as the federal government jacked up the price of petrol by Rs5 per litre to Rs272 per litre for the next fortnight earlier this month.
