State Minister for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik on Wednesday denied the proposed subsidy of Rs50 on petrol just after a day International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised questions over it.
A day ago, the IMF representative in Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz remarked that Pakistan’s incumbent government was not consulted before the major decision regarding the petrol subsidy.
She said there will be a discussion with Pakistan on the total cost, targets, and fraud prevention in the subsidized petrol scheme.
However, Musadik Malik has asserted that the IMF believes that the government is subsidizing petrol, while their relief program is not a subsidy.
Under the relief program, small vehicles will receive 5 liters of cheap petrol per day. There are 2,14,0000 small vehicles that consume 460 million liters of petrol per month. However, it is proposed to give a monthly relief of 30 liters of petrol to small vehicles, as explained by Malik.
In addition, motorcyclists will receive 100% relief, and after 15 days, there will be a difference of Rs100 per liter between the rich and the poor.
The minister added that there are three options under consideration for providing relief, which includes payment through password or card, or through the BISP.
