'Govt decides to impose economic emergency in country', sources

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to impose an economic emergency in the country and slashed the fuel quota and other benefits of cabinet members, parliamentarians and bureaucrats, ARY News reported citing sources.

Informed sources told ARY News that the federal government has decided to impose an economic emergency due to the deteriorating economic situation in the country.

According to sources, the PML-N-led government has also decided to slashed petrol and other benefits of parliamentarians, bureaucrats and cabinet members.

It is pertinent to mention here that the governments of Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have decided to reduce their petroleum expenditure by 40 and 35 per cent, respectively.

Sindh’s chief minister while announcing a cut on fuel quota for government officials said that the treasury should not suffer the entire burden of a fuel hike.

“Overburdening the treasury means overburdening the masses,” he said and announced that a 40 percent cut in fuel quota will be applied to the chief minister, ministers and government officials.

A day earlier, the federal government increased the prices of petroleum products by Rs30 per litre. After the hike, the price of petrol will be at Rs209.86, diesel at Rs204.15, and kerosene oil at Rs181.56.

This was the second such increase within a span of two weeks as the coalition government led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) raised the price of petrol by Rs30 per litre on May 26, the biggest increase in fuel price in the country’s history.