Pak: Petrol, power price hikes spark outcry, SC intervenes

The Pakistan government has increased petrol and electricity prices drastically, leading to a public outcry that prompted the Supreme Court to take notice of the hike.
The new electricity tariffs - higher by as much as 30 per cent - was compounded by a 4.2 per cent oil price hike.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry asked the government to submit the new tariff notification to the court.
Commenting on the issue, the Chief Justice said only the poor segment of the society will suffer from the price hike, adding that the government should focus on recovering dues rather than increasing rates.

The increase in petrol and electricity tariffs was challenged in the Lahore High Court today.
Advocate Masiur Rahman Chaudhry filed a petition at the Lahore High Court demanding that the increase in the petrol and electricity tariffs be declared illegal.

Information Minister Parvaiz Rashid said government is ready to take difficult decisions for the sake of the country.
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan said the PML-N government has betrayed its mandate.
He said his party will launch countrywide protests.
The latest surge in power tariff, effective from today, is set to impact domestic consumers with those using 200-300 units facing a 72.6 per cent increase in rates from Rs 8.11 to Rs 14 per unit.

Similarly, consumers using 201-300 units per month across the country and 301-700 units of electricity will now face a 30 per cent increase in the power rate from Rs 12.33 per unit to Rs 16 per unit, media reports said.
The government has also increased the price of petrol by Rs 4.12 per litre and High Speed Diesel by Rs 4.69 per litre.
Petrol price has been increased to Rs 113.24 per litre from Rs 109.13, while the price of high-speed diesel, which is mostly used in cargo and passenger vehicles as well as in agriculture, has been increased to Rs 116.95 per litre from the existing Rs 112.26.

The new tariffs come as the government stringently follows the structural reforms agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) against the Extended Fund Facility loan amounting to USD 6.67 billion, reports and analysts said.
Under the reforms plan, the federal government had agreed to phase out subsidies in the power sector.
To achieve this target, a four-phase plan has been tailored to reduce subsidies from about 1.8 per cent of GDP to 0.3-0.4 per cent of GDP within the next three years.
Under the first phase, the government had already increased power tariffs for industrial and commercial consumers from August 1.