Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Musadik Malik, has stated that the government is aiming to address the concerns raised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before implementing its proposed fuel subsidy plan.
Speaking with Bloomberg, Malik confirmed that the IMF has reservations about the fuel subsidy plans after Finance Minister Ishaq Dar shared the plan with the Fund last month. The government’s plan is to increase fuel prices for higher-income individuals in order to finance a subsidy for lower-income citizens. However, he added that the government’s aim is to protect the poor and vulnerable and to ensure that the IMF completely comprehends their intentions before proceeding with the plan.
“The proposed plan is aimed at protecting the poor and vulnerable,” Malik said while confirming that the government intends to ensure the IMF “completely understands what we are trying to do and why” before moving forward.
The minister said that the fuel subsidy was put together by the government just the way the gas subsidy had, a plan which he said was approved by the IMF.
Regarding an update on plans to reduce debt in the energy sector, as discussed during talks with the Funds, Musadik said that  the government is also working on a mechanism of equity swaps or issuing dividends and using them to pay off debts to clean the books, a method he said was deployed to deal with circular debt.
