By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik has said that the government would try to address the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concerns on petroleum subsidy announced by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
In an interview with Bloomberg aired on Tuesday night, Malik said the government put forward a plan to subsidise petrol for the poor and charge the rich a little higher.
The plan was envisaged on the pattern of natural gas subsidy the government negotiated with the IMF, he added.
Justifying the gas subsidy, Malik said “we thought we would charge the rich a lit bit more, and the poor people would be given a little bit of relief [on petrol price].”
Regarding concerns of the IMF, he said that the government was “open to sit with them” and satisfy their concerns.
