KARACHI: Former finance minister Shaukat Tarin said on Saturday that the hike in gas prices and taxes will be made under the IMF deal signed by the coalition government

Addressing a presser in Karachi, Tarin said the present federal government had signed a tough deal with IMF which even did not help the rupee as it has made a minor recovery against US dollar for only two days and since then the greenback had made a stronger comeback. He claimed that the incumbent government has secured a loan of US$9.4 billion in their four months. “We have never bowed down before IMF and rather fought with them to seek relief for our people.”

Shaukat Tarin asked the government to refrain from increasing electricity and gas prices immediately as the nation is being devastated by the flash floods. “Increase the tariff of utilities phase-wise rather than doing it in a go,” he suggested. He further offered a helping hand to the government and said that the entire nation needed to unite over floods. “We are willing to work with them to deal with flood situation,” Tarin said.