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• by Admin
• 11-Feb-2023 || 06:39 PM

Over the past roughly ten months, it has become the norm, and news of a coming shortage of any essential product or commodity has only accelerated its disappearance from the market. Unscrupulous individuals have been given free rein to hoard various items, create artificial shortages, and charge a premium for the stocks they release while the state is helpless. Due to traders' fears that the government may soon be forced to raise prices to tie up its long-delayed deal with the IMF and fears that fuel may soon run out in the country due to held-up imports, automobile fuel has become the latest commodity to disappear from some markets, particularly in Punjab. When news reports at the end of January mentioned a looming fuel supply crunch as a result of banks' refusal to finance and facilitate payments for imports, there was a prior warning that trouble might occur. Blocking foreign payments had been necessary due to the country's depleted foreign exchange reserves, which are currently below $3 billion. Since there were long lines at some fuel stations in the region, Punjab, which is home to half of the country's population, is currently experiencing a fuel shortage. (https://www.dawn.com/news/1736528/fuel-shortages)

Due to "limited supplies by oil marketing companies," there were long lines of cars and two-wheelers at petrol pumps in several Pakistani cities. People in distress from cities like Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Multan, and Muzafargarh expressed their dismay at the lack of fuel, and others shared their experience of having to wait for an hour to get gasoline. On Saturday, people rushed to the gas pumps in a state of panic as the media reported on the lack of gasoline. As the cash-strapped nation is already in the midst of a severe economic crisis as a result of the historic devaluation of the rupee against the dollar, the development seems to be causing widespread anxiety. (https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/28-Jan-2023/long-queues-at-filling-stations-as-pumps-run-dry-amid-petrol-shortage-in-pakistan)

The South Asian nation is in a balance of payments crisis and has inflation at a multi-decade high of 27.6%. The falling value of the Pakistani rupee is driving up the cost of imported goods. The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association's chairman, Abdul Sami Khan, stated that they had not received sufficient supplies from oil marketing companies, so the shortage was not caused by dealers. He stated, "Consumers believe we aren't providing them with fuel, and they blame us - but we aren't being supplied enough." (https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistani-minister-says-fuel-supplies-adequate-warns-against-hoarding-2023-02-08/)