Minimum wage hike, petrol ration card mulled

ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Finance in consultation with Macro Advisory Group is working on five major proposals for finalising targeted subsidies in view of mounting inflation, including raising minimum wages from Rs20,000-25,000 and pushing private firms to jack up salaries by 20-25 percent.

Other proposals are related to increasing salaries for government employees by 25 percent, provision of petrol ration card for motorcycle riders, launch of internship programme for educated youth, and allowing obtainment of medicines through Sehat Insaf Card for poor segments of the society.

“We have considered different options and asked the Ehsaas Programme to share their data for finalising the design of targeted subsidy.

There are 23 million motorcycles in the country and the government cannot provide petrol subsidy to all because it will require Rs200 billion. So the government has decided to use Ehsaas data to grant petrol subsidy to those bike riders who fall into category of very poor,” top official sources told The News.

These views came to fore in background discussions after the Macro Advisory Group Zoom meeting with Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin.

The POL prices might further escalate as the government had hiked petrol price by over Rs12 to near an unprecedented level of Rs160/litre.

However, it was calculated when Brent Crude was at $88/barrel. As Brent Crude has already crossed $95/barrel, the prices of local petroleum products are bound to rise next month.

The government is now trying to find different options to dole out targeted subsidies.

There are different proposals and the government wants to finalise them as early as possible.

There are three different proposals related to increasing the minimum wages of public and private sectors by increasing them from Rs20,000 to Rs22,000, Rs25,000, and Rs28,000.

It will be decided after the finalisation of the proposal on petrol card for motorbikes.

According to official statement Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin presided over the meeting. It was virtually attended by former Governors SBP Dr Ishrat Hussain and Syed Salim Raza, Adviser to CM Punjab Dr Salman Shah, Governor SBP Dr Reza Baqir, Vice Chancellor PIDE Dr Nadeem ul Haq, Professor of Economics Dr Rashid Amjad, Executive Director SDPI, Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Country Director IGC Dr Ijaz Nabi, and Sakib Sherani attended the meeting.

The Macroeconomic Advisory Group endorsed the government’s efforts being undertaken for dealing with the impact of rising prices on general population. There was consensus among members that the new initiatives undertaken by the government were in line with the sustainable macroeconomic stability paradigm.

The group members recognised that global inflationary tendencies had cast undesirable impact across the globe including Pakistan.

They comprehensively deliberated on various initiatives that could be undertaken for provision of maximum relief to the public.

These initiatives specifically aim at resolving the economic constraints of middle and lower economic strata of the society.