Musadik Masood Malik, Minister of State for Petroleum, announced on Monday that the government will charge the rich Rs. 100 per litre more and use the money to subsidise gasoline for the poor.
The minister’s announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed that lower-income families using motorcycles, rickshaws, and cars up to 800cc receive a Rs. 50 per litre fuel subsidy.
Malik told a press conference that the prime minister has now directed that the difference in petrol prices between rich and poor be reduced to Rs. 100 per litre. He stated that the subsidy will be in place within 6 weeks, without going into specifics about how it will be implemented.
The minister also stated that the government will not provide any subsidies for the scheme, but that it will be funded by charging a higher price for gasoline to the wealthy. He claimed that the staggered pricing mechanism was already in place in the gas industry.
He went on to say that the government has decided in principle to tax the wealthy while providing relief to the poor.
It is worth noting that petroleum product prices in Pakistan have risen dramatically in the last year. The current petrol price, Rs. 272 per litre, is the highest in the country’s history.
