ISLAMABAD: Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik Saturday said the federal government has decided to sustain the gas tariff at the current level and the gas consumers would not be burdened with any upward revision of the tariff.
Addressing a news conference, he claimed that the ruling party’s economic policies started showing positive results, resulting in a significant drop in food inflation from 48 percent to 2 percent.
He maintained that overall inflation decreased to 12 per cent from 38 per cent and was further decreasing. All economic indicators show that the country is moving towards stability, he added.
Government has to increase gas prices: Minister of State for Petroleum
He said alleviating poverty, reducing inflation, and providing jobs to the youth are the government’s foremost priorities. The prime minister allocated Rs600 billion in the current federal budget to uplift the poor.
He said development projects are being executed especially in the backward areas to provide job opportunities to locals. He also noted that Rs50 billion had been allocated to protect 86 per cent of electricity consumers in the country for the next three months.
He said the government is determined to provide more relief to the masses and improve hospitals, digitise the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and privatise state-owned enterprises.
He criticised the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for giving $4 billion to the 100 richest people during its tenure. He said that the government is taking steps to eliminate terrorism, while the opposition speaks against these measures.
The government has offered dialogue, whereas, the opposition talks about destruction, sit-ins and confrontational politics. Dr. Malik criticised the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) for their “maligning campaign against State institutions” and their politics of sit-ins without offering solutions to the current problems.
He accused the PTI leader of taking U-turns and misguiding his followers. He recalled that the PTI leader used to claim his government was removed by the US, but is now “seeking help” from the US.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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