Pakistan to keep gas prices unchanged until winter months — petroleum minister

Pakistani Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik speaks during an interview with AFP at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, DC, on May 8, 2023. (AFP/File)

• In February, Pakistan’s caretaker government had increased the price of natural gas by up to 67 percent for residential consumers
• Pakistan last month saw days of protests over the rising costs of living, mainly fueled by exorbitant hikes in energy prices

ISLAMABAD: Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik said on Tuesday his government would keep the gas prices unchanged until winter months of December and January, Pakistani state media reported, amid rising costs of living in Pakistan.
In February this year, Pakistan’s caretaker government had increased the price of natural gas by up to 67 percent for residential consumers in a bid to meet one of the key fiscal tightening conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the final review of its last bailout program, worth $3 billion, that ended in April.
The gas price for protected consumers category of up to 0.25 cubic hectometers (hm3) and up to 0.9 hm3 was increased to Rs200 from Rs121 and Rs350 from Rs300, or between 40 percent and 67 percent, while the rates for non-protected category consuming up to 0.25 hm3 to above 4 hm3 was raised to Rs500 to Rs4,200, or between 5 percent to 25 percent.
Malik denied reports of any further increase in gas tariff and said the government was striving to avoid placing any additional burden on the people, the state-run APP news agency reported.
“If the need arises to provide relief, we will make decisions in consultation with all provinces and move forward together,” he was quoted as saying. “Our aim is to avoid increasing gas prices.”
Pakistan’s inflation rate surged to a historic high of 38 percent in May 2023, but has since declined to clock in at 11.1 percent in July. The central bank has also revised its inflation forecast upwards from 20-22 percent to 23-25 percent for the current fiscal year due to a hike in energy prices.
Pakistan, which imports most of its energy needs, saw days of protests last month over the rising costs of living, mainly fueled by energy price hikes. The protests prompted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to announce a three-month, Rs50 billion subsidy for electricity consumers using up to 200 units a month.
Malik said 86 percent consumers using up to 200 units had been given relief from the federal government, while 98 percent of domestic electricity consumers, who used up to 500 units, had been provided relief by the Punjab government, urging other provincial governments to offer similar relief.