Pakistan keeps petroleum prices unchanged

ISLAMABAD:Pakistan has decided not to increase petroleum product prices in an effort to reduce the burden on ordinary citizens, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday.

“Fuel prices are not being increased to lessen the burden on the common man,” the prime minister said, adding that the government would continue to provide as much relief as possible to the public despite difficult economic conditions.

Sharif said the global economy was currently under pressure due to rising tensions in the region, which could have significant repercussions for Pakistan’s economy.

He said the government was attempting to manage the situation through timely policymaking, austerity measures and fiscal discipline.

“As a servant of Pakistan, I am determined to start from the government and the country’s elite to reduce the burden on the poor during these difficult times,” he said.

The prime minister added that provincial governments were also supporting the federal government’s cost-cutting measures, which he described as a positive development.

Sharif said that, by the grace of God and through the efforts of the country’s diplomatic and economic teams, Pakistan currently had adequate crude oil supplies to meet domestic requirements.

He added that federal and provincial authorities were working together to ensure that no one charges consumers more than the government-set fuel prices.

The prime minister expressed hope that global conditions would improve and stability would return to international petroleum markets.