The new government kept the fuel prices unchanged for 1.5 months and dig a hole for themselves. And now, they didn’t have any other choice but to hike the petrol prices by Rs. 60 in just a week.
After back to back petrol price hikes, KPK has decided to cut the fuel quota of its top officials. A notification issued by KP Chief Secretary stated that Chief Minister KP, Mehmood Khan has approved 35% cut down in the fuel quota of KPK ministers and government officials.
Hours before, the Sindh government also took the same decision of cutting 40% of provincial fuel quota especially assigned for ministers and other high officials.
Petrol Price Hikes
Last night, the government increased petrol price by Rs. 30, taking the rate up to Rs. 209.86 per liter. This development incited never-ending anger among the masses. Twitter users demanded to trickle down the free fuel quota of government employees. Since then, a hashtag ‘EndFreePetrol’ is trending on Twitter.
New Petrol Prices
Petrol now costs Rs. 209.86.
The new Diesel rate is Rs. 204.15.
Kerosene Oil is currently at Rs. 181.94.
And the price of Light Diesel Oil has reached Rs. 178
The government has taken all these unpopular decisions in order to brace itself for an agreement with the IMF. The fate of a country highly depends on prevailing political stability. Otherwise, the government could find itself between a rock and hard place.
What do you think about this petrol hike episode? Do you think this government will be able to hold this steep escalation of petrol prices? Or will these steps be helpful to shore up rapidly depleting financial reserves? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
