Fuel prices to go down from May 01, announces Hafeez Shaikh

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Tuesday said that the fuel prices would go down in the country from May 01, ARY NEWS reported.

He said that the government has planned to unveil next fiscal year’s budget in first week of June and it would be a coronavirus budget.

“We will be exempting the small traders from payment of three month electricity dues,” he said adding that the government was already disbursing money among 12 million people in the country.

“We will be announcing support for the four million people who got unemployed due to coronavirus,” said Hafeez Shaikh adding that dealing with the pandemic and economy side by side was among their top priority.

He said that they had faced a difficult financial situation after coming into power and even had to squeeze the armed forces’ budget for overcoming financial constraints.

He admitted that country’s exports had declined due to global coronavirus pandemic.

It is pertinent to mention here that Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Saturday chaired a meeting of think tank on economic affairs to discuss coronavirus impact on economy and efforts needed to mitigate its risk.

The participants stressed upon the need to bring reforms in monetary, banking and financial affairs and small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. The meeting also emphasized on the need to bring improvement in large scale businesses, social safety net, health sector and private sector.

The adviser briefed the participants on the debt relief plan approved at the G-20 forum. He said that under the plan, United States Dollar (USD) 1.80 billion debt payment could be postponed for a year.