By Ali Imran
ISLMAABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Friday that Pakistan’s current economic woes were gift of a ten-year rule of Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.
In a tweet, he said today if the government did not have to repay $12 billion in debt and interest this year, the money could have been used to subsidize prices of oil and electricity.
He said the government would have taken steps to protect the consumers from the adverse effects of rising prices of commodities in the international market if the former rulers had not ruined the national economy during their ten years of misrule.Earlier on Monday, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had notified an increase of up to Rs2.97 per unit in electricity rates for ex-Wapda distribution companies under the quarterly tariff adjustment (QTA) for one year with effect from October 1, 2021.
According to an order released by NEPRA, along with a schedule of tariff (SOT), the tariff increase includes a fresh surcharge of Rs1.25 per unit for all consumers, except domestic consumers, and a quarterly adjustment of Rs1.66 per unit for all consumer categories. The SOT showed no tariff increase for domestic consumers using up to 300 units. However, an increase of Rs1.72 per unit will apply to the consumers using above 300 units.
Moreover, the government also raised the prices of fuel which amassed public backlash. The government increased the price of petrol by Rs4 per liter and that of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs2 per liter.
Meanwhile, the prices of kerosene oil and light diesel oil (LDO) were increased by Rs7.05 and Rs8.82 per liter, respectively. From Oct 1, the price of petrol was Rs127.30 per liter, high-speed diesel was Rs122.04 per liter, kerosene oil became Rs99.31 and light diesel oil was set to Rs99.51 per liter.
Hinting at the current economic situation, Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that dollar, LNG, inflation, unemployment were at the highest level in history of the country. He said the government had no strategy and global and domestic conditions were making it impossible for the people already crushed under inflation to survive. Shehbaz demanded that the matter should be taken up seriously before time runs out.
