ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Petroleum, Musadik Malik on Friday said the government has taken tough decision of increasing petroleum prices to stabilize the economy and prevent economic destruction and bankruptcy of the country.

Talking to media here in Islamabad, he said government announced a relief package before enhancing prices of the petroleum products. He said two thousand rupees are being provided to the people of low-income groups to lessen burden of increased petroleum prices.

The Minister of State said government was compelled to raise petroleum prices due to commitments made by previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other financial institutions. Speaking on the occasion, PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the previous government had announced unsustainable subsidy, which if continued, could have touched the mark of 25,000 billion rupees per year.