Steps being taken to control inflation: Farrukh Habib
“The price of petroleum products had increased by 100 percent,” Farrukh Habib said.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib has said that by reducing taxes the government did not put more burden on the people as the prices would have been more than Rs 170 per liter had the petroleum levy increased.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said that the government had collected some Rs 400 billion less taxes by not passing on the prices of petroleum products to masses.
“The price of petroleum products had increased by 100 percent,” he said.
The state minister said that the required steps were being taken to control inflation in federation and provinces by passing on limited impact of global inflation to the masses. “There has been a substantial decrease in the prices of essential commodities as compared to the last year due to the administrative actions taken by the PTI government in the federation and provinces,” he said.
The price of sugar had been reduced by Rs 60 per kilogram due to the measures taken by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf governments at federal and provincial levels including action against hoarders and starting crushing season of sugarcane timely in various provinces.
“Today, ex-mill rate of sugar exists between Rs 85 and Rs 90,” he said, holding Sindh government responsible for the deliberately delaying start of the crushing season in the province which spiked the sweetener rate.
The minister said the Sindh government delayed the crushing season in a bid to benefit the hoarders and profiteers patronizing by the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP).
It was an open secret that Asif Ali Zardari was a major beneficiary of price-hike of sugar, he said, adding the Sindh government did not support the federal government’s initiatives followed by governments of other provinces.
He said that governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa released imported sugar in the market to bring down the prices.
He said unlike the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the present government did not import a single sack of fertilizer. “We have increased its production by providing gas to them [fertilizer sector],” he added.
The minister said fertilizer was being hoarded in Sindh due to incompetency of the Sindh government. It was the Sindh government which had been encouraging hoarders, he observed.
Unlike the Sindh government, he said the government in Punjab lodged 347 FIRs and arrested 244 persons for hoarding fertilizers. The Punjab government deserved appreciation for preventing exploitation of farmers, he added.
Such administrative actions ensured Rs 400 per sack decrease in fertilizer’s price, he said, lashing out the Sindh government for taking anti-farmers measures.
He said the Sindh government did not taking any administrative action against the hoarders. All the governments, except the Sindh’s had given their share for providing subsidy to the farmers on Diammonium phosphate (DAP), he added.
