The federal government has failed to justify the hike in petrol price and drew a deceptive comparison with neighboring countries and others in the region.
The federal government has increased the petrol price by Rs 5.40 per liter and high-speed diesel by Rs 2.54 per liter, citing the spike in international oil prices. This is the second increase in the fuel prices only in July.
The renewed price of petrol has reached Rs 118.09 per liter and diesel will be available at Rs 116.5 per liter.
The change in fuel rates outraged the masses who are already battered by the ravages of coronavirus pandemic and inflation.
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However, Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry came up to defend the government on the change in rates.
He drew a comparison in the petrol price between Pakistan and other countries in the region without keeping in view the purchasing power of the nations.
عالمی مارکیٹ میں تیل کی قیمتوں میں مسلسل اضافے کے باعث حکومت کے پاس تیل کی قیمتوں میں اضافے کے سوا کوئ چارہ نہیں تھا، لیکن اس اضافے کے باوجود پاکستان میں تیل کی قیمتیں اس پورے علاقے میں سب سے کم ہیں۔ pic.twitter.com/qddqCOiG7T
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) July 15, 2021
The minister claimed that the petrol price in Pakistan was still the lowest in the South Asian region and the government had no option than to increase it because of the rise in international oil prices.
However, the information minister disregarded the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of the mentioned countries, a measure of the standard of living and economic wellbeing of people.
Pakistan ranks below in GDP per capita than China, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Bhutan while only Nepal in the shared list is below it.
As reported in December 2020, Pakistan’s GDP per capita was recorded at $1,168 while Bangladesh’s was $1,305, India’s was $1,961, Sri Lanka’s was $3,846, Bhutan’s was $3,008 and Malaysia’s was $11,637.