PM waives fuel adjustment charges for 17 million consumers

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday announced a complete exemption to about 17.1 million electricity consumers out of 30 million in the country from paying their fuel adjustment charges (FAC) in the electricity bills.

As immediate relief measures for the masses, the prime minister said that the government had also notified rescinding of levy of fixed taxes on retailers and shopkeepers.
He expressed that these measures would provide immediate relief to the masses.

Accompanied by the members of his delegation during his two-day official visit to Qatar, the prime minister said that when they came into power, they had two targets to achieve.

The coalition government carried the backlog of the previous government which had left behind a trail of worst performance and economic decay and due to their pathetic policies, the country was on the verge of default, he said, adding, but due to the untiring efforts of the coalition government, that danger was over.

The prime minister said the previous government’s poor performance had resulted in the price hike of commodities, but his government continued its efforts day and night.

The coalition government carried the backlog of previous government which had left behind a trail of worst performance and economic decay, and due to their pathetic policies, the country was on the verge of default, he said, adding but due to the untiring efforts of the incumbent government, that danger was over.

The prime minister regretted that during the debate on the passage of first fiscal budget, they had discussed the issue of fixed tax on retailers and shopkeepers but practically, the things went wrong which did not reflect reality.

Imposition of such taxes was against the spirit of what they had discussed, he said, adding due to such measures, the small shopkeepers had to face an extra burden of paying taxes.

A committee had been set up to fix the responsibility on the issue which would submit its report, he said, adding the process would take some time.

The prime minister said a notification was also issued regarding removal of fixed taxes of Rs 3000, 6000 and 10,000 on the shopkeepers.

He said such a waiver would result in Rs 42 billion revenue collection gap, but the government would meet it from other resources, as it could not want to create problems for the small shopkeepers.