ISLAMABAD: Due to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) pressure, the government is in a quandary to provide full relief to the people, however taking a surprising U-turn late in the night after taking credit for a decrease of Rs15.40 on petrol and Rs7.90 on diesel prices.
Soon after the media reported a significant decrease in the petroleum prices quoting Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif tall claims for providing another major relief in a month, the reported news altered to another news taking back the earlier one of major increase.
According to sources, the IMF’s strict conditions reportedly came in the way of a huge relief reaching the people from the continuous falling oil prices in the global market for the last couple of weeks. The IMF pressure however has rendered the government helpless.
Over the first news, the masses were emotionally aroused by a big reduction in the prices of petroleum products, however their joys remained short-lived as the news was followed by another one having a minor reduction in the prices.
The claims of the Prime Minister’s Office and the decision of the Ministry of Finance seemed completely contradictory. Eventually price of Petrol was reduced by Rs4.74 and that of diesel by Rs3.86 per liter.
In addition, a tax of Rs 82 per liter is also being collected from the public on petroleum products to meet the strict conditions of the IMF. This included a petroleum levy of Rs60 per liter and customs duty of up to Rs20 per liter. Other charges, including those for oil marketing companies and dealers’ margin, were separate.
After the contradictory drama, the new price of petrol is now Rs268.86 and that of high-speed diesel at Rs270.22 per liter.
