Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail announced on Saturday the process for the deserving families to avail the subsidies on petrol and diesel under the relief program.

He was addressing a press conference in Islamabad. FM said families who are part of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) are eligible. They will automatically receive Rs2000 under the “Prime Minister Sasta Petrol Sasta Diesel Scheme.”

Petrol Subsidy check by sending message on 786

The households that are not part of the BISP database will have to send their identity cards numbers to 786. It will facilitate to check their eligibility, Ismail added.

However, he clarified that the id card number should belong to a woman. As the money will only transfer to the women head of the household.

Miftan said the government would verify the intending beneficiary. If government finds their household income less than Rs40,000, they would get the money.

He said the subsidy amount was equal to five percent of these families’ total income. As according the the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data, an average Pakistan spends five percent on transport.

Miftah Ismail said the program was expected to benefit more tan 14m families, out of which 7.3million were already registered under BISP. “The remaining 6.7m families will have to send the message to 786 [to avail the subsidy].”

The finance minister said the subsidy would cost the government Rs28b, however, he refused to call it a “burden on exchequer.”

He said with the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products, the government has reduced the loss it was sustaining by subsidizing petroleum products by Rs60b.

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