Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday announced a number of relief measures for the public, including slashing oil prices by Rs. 10 per liter and electricity tariff by Rs. 5 per unit. He also assured that there will be no further increase in prices of petrol, electricity till the budget.
While addressing the nation on the state television channel, the premier discussed:
- Pakistan’s economic situation
- PTI government’s performance over the last three-and-a-half years, and
- Global challenges in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Imran Khan also announced a series of measures to bring some relief to the public.
“In order to provide relief to the people, I want to announce that instead of increasing the price of petrol and diesel we are reducing it by Rs10 per liter,” he said.
“We have also decided to decrease electricity prices by Rs5 per unit. This means that there will be a 20-50 percent decrease in your electricity bills.” He added while talking about the reduction in the price of electricity per unit.
The prices would not be increased until the next federal budget, which is scheduled in June 2022, announced the PM.
International Trends of Petrol Prices:
PM Imran Khan elaborated that since Pakistan imports petrol thus there is nothing the government could do when the prices increase in the international market.
He shared the details of petrol prices in other countries saying “in Pakistan, the price of petrol is still the lowest in the world.”
The prices mentioned by the premier are given below:
- The price of petrol is Rs160 per litre in Pakistan
- The price of petrol in India is Rs260
- In Bangladesh, the price of petrol is Rs.185
- The price of petrol in Turkey is 200
“If the government stops providing subsidies worth Rs70 billion, every worth then the price of petrol in Pakistan would have been Rs220 per liter,” PM Imran Khan said.
Relief Package including Scholarships and Internships and tax exemption:
The relief package announced by the PM consisted of the following measures in terms of scholarships, internships and tax exemptions:
- 30,000 rupees per month internship to all jobless graduates
- 26,000 scholarships, costing 38 billion rupees will be provided to students
- Tax exemption for companies and freelancers in IT sector; foreign exchange exemption
- Exemption from capital gain tax for IT startups
- Skills-based internships for graduates
- Limit of Ehsas Cash Programme has been increased from 12,000 rupees to 14,000 rupees
Sehat Sahulat programme:
Talking about the government’s Sehat Sahulat program, Imran Khan said entire families of Punjab will get health cards by the end of the next month which will allow them to have medical treatment of up to Rs1 million at any hospital.
Kamyab Jawan Programme:
Discussing the government’s key initiative for youth, the Kamyab Jawan program, the prime minister said that the country’s youth and farmers would be given interest-free loans as well as the low-income citizens who would be provided with subsidized loans to build homes. “Loans worth Rs407 billion will be disbursed during two years.”
PM defends Peca ordinance
Imran Khan also defended the amendments to the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016, playing down the criticism that it will curb media freedom. “The Peca law was made in 2016. We are only amending it,” said the premier adding that a leader of a country who has never done corruption or broken the law will never be in danger from media freedom.
He said that mafias were doing blackmail under the guise of media freedom. “They have other agendas. There are journalists who are taking money, flinging filth and doing blackmail.”
The premier reiterated that the amendment to the Peca law was not related to media freedom, adding that “good journalists would want fake news to be eradicated”.