Just after taking oath, the caretaker Prime Minister of the country, Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar has dropped the first ever bombshell by massive increase in the petroleum prices, even the cabinet is not announced yet.
The announcement of the increase in petroleum product prices was made by the Finance Division on Tuesday and Wednesday midnights.
The statement said, “During the past two weeks, there has been an increase in petroleum product prices in the international market, which has led to changes in prices in Pakistan as well.”
According to the Ministry of Finance statement, the price of petrol has been increased by Rs 17.50 rupees per liter, bringing the new price to 290.45 rupees.
Similarly, the price of high-speed diesel has also been increased by Rs 20 rupees. After the increase, the new price of high-speed diesel is Rs 293.40. According to the statement, the new prices has been implemented from August 16th.
Besides the petroleum prices , the cost of LPG has also increased due to which the already inflation-ridden people, especially the middle class of the country, came under extreme pressure.
Prior to this, at the beginning of the current month, the former PDM led government had also made a ‘significant’ increase in petroleum products, which had led to strong criticism from the public.
At that time, the government had increased the price of petrol by Rs 19.95 per liter, while the price of high-speed diesel was increased by Rs 19.90 per liter.
Regarding this matter, Finance Minister at the time, Ishaq Dar had stated, “We are in the IMF program, everyone knows that we are under a Stand-By Arrangement. If you recall, similar issues arose in the previous government as well, and as time went on, they not only failed to fulfill international commitments but also reduced them.”
People in the social media have once again expressed their frustration and anger over the increase in the prices of petrol and diesel. On the second day of the establishment of the caretaker government in Pakistan, the value of the Pakistani rupee experienced a decline, and the value of the American dollar increased to 300 rupees in the open market.
On the second day of the caretaker government, the dollar’s value suddenly increased to around 293 rupees in the interbank market.
The financial experts said that during the tenure of the interim , it is very much possible that the rate of the dollar could be increased more as the increase in the value of the dollar was anticipated. The previous government had artificially suppressed the value of the dollar, and as the term of that government ended and the caretaker government came in, the dollar returned to its natural value.
The experts added that during the last month, remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis decreased by 20 percent. Due to the previous government’s strict policies on dollar buying and selling, the dollar moved towards the black market instead of exchange companies. This practice was ongoing during the previous government’s time, but after the government left, an increase in the dollar’s value was witnessed.
The mandate of caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar is to hold elections and if he would continue the fiscal policies of the previous government by increasing the price, then it is very much likely that the people might be come out on the roads as they are now fed up with the bogus financial management from the PDM led ex-government. If this happens, it will be the first instance that a protest would be launched against the caretaker prime minister.