Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday directed the authorities concerned to take necessary measures to bring down prices of essential commodities to give maximum relief to the common man.
Chairing a meeting to review overall economic situation in the country, the prime minister was apprised of inflationary trend in the international commodity market and petroleum prices.
The prime minister said, “Like our exemplary response to COVID-19 pandemic, we are working hard to mitigate negative impacts of international inflation, especially in petroleum products and food items.”
Read more: How can we control the price hike in Pakistan?
An unbearable inflation
He said stabilising macroeconomic indicators in the country was the government’s top priority to spur economic growth.
Earlier, the prime minister was briefed about the overall economic situation in the country.
The meeting was attended by Economic Affairs Minister Omar Ayub Khan, Energy Minister Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Industries Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Information Minister Ch Fawad Hussain, Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam, Planning Minister Asad Umar, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood, Adviser on Finance Shaukat Fayyaz Tarin, Special Assistant to PM Dr Shehbaz Gill and Governor State Bank Dr Reza Baqir.
Earlier, According to a notification issued by the Finance Division, the new price of petrol was Rs137.79 per liter while high speed diesel will sell for Rs134.48.
Read more: Food price hike in country lower than international market: govt
Meanwhile, the prices of kerosene and light diesel oil (LDO) were increased by Rs10.95 and Rs8.84 per liter respectively. The new price of kerosene is Rs110.26 per litre and that of LDO is Rs108.35 per liter.
This is perhaps the first time for which data is publicly available that all the four major petroleum products are being sold above Rs100 per liter in the country.
Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal criticised the federal government for raising the price of petroleum products, which he said was akin to forcing the common man up against the wall.
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“This has been repeated so many times that it now sounds strange even to say that the government does not [care for the common man],” he said while delivering a media talk in Karachi. “Forget giving them 10m jobs, the ones who already had jobs are now unemployed as well.
“This hike in prices of petroleum products [would make] the life of a common man go from bad to worse. You don’t give gas in the winters and electricity in the summers so the common man has been forced against the wall.”
APP with additional input by GVS