'Petroleum prices should have been increased in phases,' Shoukat Tarin

Former Finance Minister Shoukat Tareen has said that the government should have increased petroleum in phases rather than increasing prices by Rs30, ARY News reported. 

PTI leader Shaukat Tareen criticised the incumbent government’s decision to increase fuel prices and said that it would bring about a storm of inflation. The government should have increased prices in phases, he added.

Shoukat said that the government is stripping the people of the relief we provided them with. IMF demanded them to increase the fuel prices or they would not release the next phase of the economic relief program, the government was trapped and had to make desperate efforts, he added.

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It is to be noted that the federal government increased petroleum prices by Rs30 on May 26. The price for per litre petrol has been increased from Rs150 to Rs179.86. The price of per litre diesel has been increased to Rs174.15, while lite diesel will be sold at Rs148.31.

The new prices will be in application from 12 pm tonight.

The increase in petroleum prices was important to get the $0.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. In conclusion in week-long negotiations between the IMF and the Pakistani delegation, IMF had linked the loan with the increase in petroleum prices.