Daily Times

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz Saturday said that welfare of the people was the priority of government and efforts would be continued to provide them relief.

In a tweet, he said the prices of petroleum products have been reviewed due to surge in international oil prices. The minister, however, said the increase made in Pakistan was less than when compared with other countries in the region.

Separately, Minister for Power and Petroleum Omar Ayub Khan on Saturday informed the National Assembly that despite current increase in the price of petroleum products, the fuel is still cheaper in Pakistan than in subcontinent and South Asia. Responding to various points raised by the legislators of the opposition regarding the current increase of the petroleum products, he said, “Petrol prices in Pakistan are still the lowest in the subcontinent by a wide margin.”

He said that in January, the petrol was Rs 116.60 per liter and diesel was Rs 127.26 per liter and then it was reduced by Rs 42 per liter and diesel by Rs 47 per liter on January 1. Now the petrol has been increased by Rs 25 per liter but it is still Rs 17 per liter cheaper than in January, he added. He said diesel was increased by Rs 21 liter but was still Rs 26 liter cheaper than what it was in January. The minister said the international price of oil had risen sharply in the last one month. The rupee has also weakened during this time, he added.

He said the price of OPEC basket of petroleum products increased by 46 percent last month. The minister said that the present government passed on the benefit of reduction in international oil prices to the consumers. He said, “We will move forward as per the fluctuation in the international oil market.” He said that petrol prices were higher in Bangladesh, India, China and other countries of the region than Pakistan even after the price revision.

Omar Ayub further said that government had improved power transmission system which now had capacity of more than 26,000 MW. Minister said load shedding had been eliminated and currently it was being carried out only in feeders where losses were high. He said our focus was now on bringing improvement in the distribution and transmission system. “We are pursuing clean and green projects in the energy sector”, he added.

He alleged that the previous government had established expensive power plants.

He said that the government was working to improve the energy mix.

Pakistan was the net importer of petroleum products, he said adding the government inherited high current account deficit and fiscal deficit.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan himself asked for an investigation into the sugar crisis and directed for action against those responsible.

Meanwhile, Vice President Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,(PTI) Fehmida Kausar Jamali on Saturday said that Pakistan is offering the petroleum products at the lowest rate as compared to the South Asia countries. In a statement, she said that the government have to calculate the price mechanism with due procedures and it was a difficult decision, adding that the masses would get revised POL prices soon.

Fehmida said that the present political setup in the country is people-centric and its socio-economic agenda was aimed at economic benefits to the people despite big challenges. She said that government was trying to focus on boosting Pakistan’s industrial capacity through joint ventures in priority areas, relocation of labour-intensive export-led industry, SMEs collaboration and enhancement of vocational training capacity. “The Incumbent government is determined to establish four special economic zones (SEZs) in all provinces which was ignored in past regimes,” she added.

She urged the trade bodies especially based in Balochistan to come up with a three-year roadmap for industrialization and export sector strategy before Ministry of Planning Commission and Commerce division; only bashing was not a solution. “China is progressing by adopting long-term strategies. now must focusing towards adopting the same approach,” she added, and urged business community to consider the payment of taxes as their national obligation. She said that the government was firm to uplift the masses and check poverty through wealth creation, tax collection and industrialization which is vital for the country.