WASHINGTON – Pakistan’s ambassador to the US defended his government’s decision last week to reverse an unpopular increase in fuel prices, insisting Pakistan has not abandoned efforts to reduce subsidies and raise taxes to bring its budget deficit under control.
“We are not the only country to adjust fuel prices because of public opinion,” Ambassador Husain Haqqani said in an interview in the Bloomberg Washington bureau yesterday. “There is no wavering in our commitment to economic reform,” he said. Haqqani noted his government increased fuel prices four times last year, and said the January 6 rollback of a price increase that took effect at the beginning of this year would be a temporary deferral, not a permanent reversal.
