Federal govt should use contingency funds for fuel relief: Hemnani

KARACHI: Sindh government spokesperson Sukhdev Hemnani has suggested that the federal government utilise the budgeted Rs430 billion contingency allocation to substantially expand fuel relief measures while also reducing the burden of the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL).

He called upon the federal government to reduce the PDL target and deploy available contingency resources to provide broader relief from soaring fuel prices, saying the present Rs75 billion targeted package does not adequately address the wider inflationary impact of the fuel crisis.

Relief for motorcycles, rickshaws and small-car owners is important, but the present crisis requires a broader response, Hemnani said.

“Despite collecting nearly Rs100 billion above the original target last fiscal year, the PDL target for FY27 has been increased further to approximately Rs1.677 trillion. In extraordinary circumstances, revenue targets must respond to economic realities rather than become an additional burden on citizens,” he said.

Hemnani urged the federal government to revise the current PDL target towards the FY26 level and use the resulting fiscal space to reduce the levy burden on petroleum consumers.

“At a time when petroleum levy collections exceeded their original target by Rs99 billion, substantial contingency resources also remained available. Greater fiscal space could have been directed towards protecting consumers from the impact of escalating fuel costs,” he said.

Hemnani said approximately Rs430 billion has again been budgeted for emergencies and contingencies in FY27, compared with the presently approved Rs75 billion fuel-relief package.

“The present fuel-price crisis and its cascading impact on transport, agriculture, businesses and household costs constitute precisely the kind of extraordinary economic pressure for which contingency provisions are maintained. This is the time to deploy these resources. The federal government should utilise the contingency allocation to substantially expand fuel relief, alongside reducing the PDL burden,” he said.

When provinces are contributing substantial resources towards national requirements, every available fiscal instrument should be used to protect citizens during an extraordinary economic shock, Hemnani said.

He said that fuel prices do not affect motorists alone, but it also determine transportation costs, agricultural inputs, food prices and the cost of doing business.

“Relief must therefore address the wider inflationary chain rather than remain confined to a limited category of consumers. In a crisis of this scale, protecting citizens from an external price shock must remain the foremost priority of the state,” he concluded.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026