Islamabad (National Times) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday decided that the prices of petroleum products would not be increased this time despite the uptick in the global oil market.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), PM Shehbaz was quoted as saying that prices were not being increased to reduce the burden on the common man.

He said that as per his “promise”, he would provide relief to the people as much as possible.

“The global economy is currently under pressure due to regional tensions, which is likely to have a profound impact on Pakistan’s economy,” the premier said.

He said that because of timely policy-making, austerity measures by the government and financial discipline, efforts were being made to deal with this situation effectively.

The premier further added that provincial governments were also supporting the Centre in its austerity measures, which was welcome.

He said that due to the efforts of the diplomatic and economic teams, adequate quantities of crude oil were available for the country’s needs.

“The federal and provincial governments are working together to ensure that no one is charged more than the price set by the government,” he said. He prayed that the global situation would improve and that the prices of petroleum products would stabilise.

The development comes a week after the government increased petrol and diesel prices amid the war in Iran, which has caused massive disruption in oil supply. Subsequently, the government had also announced a host of austerity measures to cope with the situation.

The next petrol price review was scheduled for Sunday (March 15), but ministers had indicated on Thursday that it could be brought forward to Friday (today).

Highly placed official sources had told Dawn that PM Shehbaz infor­med a recent consultative session atten­ded by federal and provincial representatives that he and the military leadership had jointly decided after the first Rs55 per litre increase, there would be no further price hike in the near future, regardless of dev­e­lopments in the Middle East.

The premier told the session, also attended by Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir, that the government would use block allocations for emergencies to absorb further price hikes.

According to sources, the pri­me minister said that no oth­er emergency could be wo­rse than the situation currently faced by the nation due to fuel supply disruptions following the US-Israel attack on Iran and its aftermath.