By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will announce an austerity plan on Monday as the country confronts a global fuel crisis triggered by the US-Israel-Iran war, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
The move comes a day after Sharif chaired a high-level review of the proposals and just days after authorities raised petroleum-product prices by as much as 55 rupees a liter to reflect the regional energy shock. The government has already switched to weekly revisions of fuel prices, effective Saturday, and is weighing further conservation steps amid fears of supply disruptions from the Middle East conflict.
In a statement issued late Sunday, the PMO said the Sunday meeting was told that the final blueprint on austerity and fiscal savings would be made public the next day. Officials briefed Sharif that the country holds sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel and that precautionary measures are already in place to manage any immediate shortages.
A broader contingency package that included mandatory work-from-home shifts and distance learning for schools and universities was floated earlier in the week. Sharif paused that plan on Friday and ordered weekly reviews instead, the statement said, reflecting a more measured approach to balancing fuel conservation with day-to-day economic activity.
Presiding over the meeting, the prime minister called for disciplined consumption of petroleum products across the board. “The government will provide significant relief to the masses once the situation stabilises,” he was quoted as saying in the release. “The burden of austerity should be borne judiciously by all segments of society, while the elite and privileged class should set an example of adopting adjustments and austerity measures.”
Sharif directed members of the cabinet, federal and provincial ministers, and all government servants to lead by example in conserving resources and delivering relief to ordinary citizens. The administration is “fully aware of the situation and fluctuation of international oil prices,” he added, “and therefore measures are being taken to provide maximum relief to the people.”
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