DPM Dar hails 'whole of govt' approach as he reviews govt fuel subsidy scheme

According to Dawn, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar praised the Prime Minister's Fuel Relief Scheme on Tuesday, saying its success reflected a whole of government approach. He chaired a National Steering Committee on Fuel Subsidy meeting to review implementation, and his office said the ministries of information, IT and petroleum, along with Ogra, SBP and the provinces, had made joint efforts. Dar called for continued coordination so that beneficiaries are served smoothly across the country.

Around 7.60 million registrations have been completed so far, and the token redemption process has moved into its second week, with 7.71m tokens redeemed. The relief, rolled out nationwide on Sept 17, offers a subsidy of Rs100 per litre to owners of two- and three-wheelers on a monthly quota of 20 litres, and vehicles of up to 800cc on 30 litres.

Separately, the Foreign Office said Dar chaired a committee monitoring conservation and additional austerity steps, which reviewed progress and stressed fiscal discipline and prudent spending. Austerity measures announced on Sept 17 include closing markets at 9pm and a 50pc cut in fuel for official vehicles over three months. The backdrop is fresh fighting in the Middle East, which has disrupted major oil supply routes and pushed fuel prices higher over the past two months, while the International Energy Agency now expects global oil supply and demand to fall further this year.