ECC decides against immediate gas price upswing: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry announced on Monday that the government has decided to keep the gas price unchanged and apprised that the move of augmenting the price has been postponed for now.

Fawad Chaudhry was briefing media after the conclusion of Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting chaired by Finance Minister Asad Umer in Islamabad on Monday (today).

Chaudhry informed that gas price was deliberated during the meeting and the committee chose to make no revisions in the gas price currently.

During the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government, Sui Southern and Northern gas companies incurred the loss of 156 billion rupees, the information minister said while adding “we are trying to develop a new system of subsidy in such a manner that increase in gas prices does not affect the poor lot but the affluent could contribute to reduce deficit of this sector.”

The minister said the new system of subsidy on gas price will be finalized by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Moreover, the government will facilitate farmers with subsidies on purchase of urea as it has decided to import 100,000 tons of urea, the federal minister told.

He explained “a bag of urea is available at 1615 rupees, while it is imported at 2575 rupees, and the burden of the remaining 960 rupees will be borne by the government.”

Fawad Chuadhry stressed that farmers are an integral part of PTI government’s economic policy and “we will not burden farmers.”

Moreover, the minister assured to launch a crackdown against the 70 percent hike on the price of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder.