Govt shelves cheap petrol subsidy plan amid financial constraints

ISLAMABAD: The government has postponed the plan to provide cheap fuel for the time being, while IT Minister Shaza Fatima also confirmed the suspension of the development of applications.

According to details, the federal government has postponed the plan to provide cheap petrol to motorcycle and rickshaw owners on a subsidy for the time being.

Sources said that the federal and provincial governments have not yet reached an agreement on the procedure and financial burden of petrol subsidy. Due to this disagreement, the work on a special mobile application developed for the distribution of cheap petrol has also been stopped immediately.

Federal Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima confirmed the suspension of the project and clarified that the provision of oil through the application is no longer part of the government project.

She said that the IT Ministry will soon formally inform the public about this application.

Federal Minister Shaza Fatima further said that at present there is no problem of fuel supply in the country, rather the real challenge for the government at present is the ‘balance of payments’.

Economic experts believe that due to the reservations of international financial institutions and the country’s fiscal deficit, it is not possible for the government to provide such a large subsidy at present.