Fuel prices will increase again: Finance minister

Federal Minister of Finance Miftah Ismail said fuel prices will increase more in Pakistan in line with world oil prices.

He was speaking at a pre-budget business conference in Islamabad on Tuesday.

PM Shehbaz Sharif is also expected to speak at the conference later.

The finance minister criticized the PTI government for an “imperfect” deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying if the coalition government had adhered to their agreement, the price of petrol would have been Rs300 per liter.

He deplored the fact that the energy sector is experiencing a loss of Rs1.600 billion.

Regarding the agreement with the IMF, the minister of finance said he was “very confident” about the negotiations with the IMF.

Miftah said the PTI government had raised the circular debt from Rs1000b to Rs2,500b and the government paid Rs1072b in electricity subsidies this year, of which 400 billion went to circular debt.

He stated that electricity prices were subsidised by Rs16 per unit or kilowatt-hours.

The minister of finance said that the present government made “very difficult” decisions, which were not an easy task for any prime minister but the government was losing Rs85 per liter of diesel and Rs69 per liter of petrol, losing Rs120b per month.

Last week, the federal government increased the price of petrol Rs60 to an enormous Rs209.86 per liter over a seven-day period.