PML-N hints at hike in petrol, electricity prices

KARACHI – PML-N senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the incumbent government will have to take tough decisions about domestic prices of petroleum products and electricity due to hike in international prices.

Talking to media in the port city, Abbasi said that current fuel price in Pakistan is lower than the cost price and it is putting burden on the under pressure economy.

He hinted the surge in fuel prices days after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif continued the relief announced by his predecessor Imran Khan and did not revised the prices upward as recommended by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).

In February this year, former PM Imran Khan announced that petroleum prices will not be jacked up till the announcement of budget for the next fiscal year.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told media that tough decisions are the need of the hour to revive the economy.

He said that government officers had expressed reservations about the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), adding that this institution must be abandoned.

It would be impossible to run the country in presence of NAB, he said and hoped that the federal cabinet will take suitable decision in this regard.

“We will not level accusations or put people in jail, but those who are involved in corruption and looting country will have to be answerable,” Abbasi said.