The address comes a week after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s address to the nation last Friday, when he once again rejected a summary for a fuel price increase and said the government would absorb the burden itself.
“I was advised to increase the price of petrol by Rs95 per litre and diesel by Rs203 per litre, but I refused again in view of the difficulties faced by the people and decided that the government would bear the cost, amounting to Rs56b,” he had said.
The premier said that based on prevailing prices in the international market, petrol should have been priced at Rs544 per litre in Pakistan, but was being provided to consumers at Rs322 per litre. Similarly, he said the price of diesel should have been Rs790 per litre, but the government was supplying it at Rs335 per litre to shield the public from additional burden.
Last month, the government sharply increased diesel and petrol prices by Rs55 per litre, or 20%, citing the ongoing US-Israel and Iran conflict, which has disrupted global supply chains and pushed crude oil prices to a two-year high.
In response to the crisis, both federal and provincial governments had introduced a series of austerity measures. These include an additional weekly holiday, a reduction in free petrol allocations for ministers, curbs on protocol vehicles, and proposals to provide subsidised fuel for students.
The government also approved a significant increase of Rs200 per litre in the fuel levy on high-octane fuel used in luxury vehicles, raising the total levy to Rs300 per litre and the price to Rs600 per litre.