Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said earlier yesterday that efforts were being made to shift the burden of proposed gas price increase from domestic to other categories of consumers, but insisted that the hike was inevitable.
Speaking to journalists after a meeting of the Senate standing committee on petroleum, he said the prime minister had not rejected the petroleum ministry’s summary for gas tariff hike as such, but the burden of domestic consumers needed to be passed on to other consumers through “cross subsidisation”.
He said the review of gas price involved revenue requirement of gas companies which had to be met through an increase in prices. The government did not have the resources to provide subsidy from the budget and, therefore, the tariff would have to be increased, the minister stated.
