Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has ordered sweeping emergency austerity and gas conservation measures after a disruption in oil and gasoline provide brought on by the United States-Israel conflict on Iran and an escalating Middle East conflict.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif introduced the measures in a televised deal with to the nation on Monday evening, warning that disruptions to maritime site visitors within the Strait of Hormuz – a significant waterway for traded oil – had positioned Pakistan’s financial system beneath direct menace.
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“The entire region is currently in a state of war,” Sharif mentioned as he laid out a collection of steps, together with shifting to a four-day workweek for presidency workers and spring holidays for faculties from March 16 to the tip of the month.
Sharif mentioned 50 % of presidency employees will do business from home on a rotating foundation and really useful comparable preparations for the non-public sector, giving key sectors similar to banking an exemption.
While faculties will stay closed for 2 weeks from Monday, scheduled examinations can be held. Universities and better schooling establishments have been directed to shift to on-line courses to preserve gas.
The austerity measures additionally embrace the federal and provincial cupboard members forgoing their salaries and allowances for the subsequent two months, whereas salaries of the members of federal and provincial legislatures will see a 25 % minimize throughout the interval.
Ministers, parliamentarians and officers could make a international journey just for important functions and in financial system class.
All in-person conferences throughout federal and provincial governments have been banned and should be performed on-line, and gas allowances of presidency workplaces have additionally been decreased.
People have been requested to limit social gatherings, with weddings and events capped at 200 visitors and restricted to 1 major dish.
Heavy reliance on imported power
Pakistan depends on imports for greater than 80 % of its oil wants. Between July 2025 and February 2026, its oil imports totalled $10.71bn, whereas the calendar 12 months complete in 2024 was greater than $15bn.
But the latest power disaster has triggered the biggest gas value enhance within the nation’s historical past, with petrol on Tuesday costing $1.15 a litre and diesel at $1.20 a litre – a 20 % soar since final week.
Energy analyst Amer Zafar Durrani, a former World Bank official and chief government of advisory agency Reenergia, mentioned the federal government’s austerity measures may work within the quick time period, however they go away the primary driver of gas demand largely unaddressed.
“Transport dominates petroleum consumption,” Durrani instructed Al Jazeera. “Roughly 80 percent of petroleum products are used in transport, meaning the country’s oil dependence is fundamentally a mobility problem.”
He mentioned measures like wage cuts or procurement freezes primarily have an effect on public funds and do little to cut back nationwide gas use. He advised that enhancing freight logistics by shifting extra cargo from roads to rail may have a greater impact.
On rising oil costs, Durrani mentioned Pakistan may very well be notably affected given the worth of its foreign money within the international market.
“The biggest risk does not come from oil prices alone. The real macroeconomic trigger is currency depreciation, which amplifies the impact of higher oil prices on domestic inflation,” he mentioned.
Durrani mentioned a long-term answer lies in harnessing extra electrical energy for transport wants, decreasing the reliance of industries on diesel, and increasing renewable power.
“Without these structural changes, every global energy shock will continue to threaten Pakistan’s economy,” he mentioned.
Pakistan’s vulnerability additionally extends to pure gasoline. It has been importing liquefied pure gasoline (LNG) since 2015 after home reserves declined. LNG now accounts for almost 1 / 4 of Pakistan’s electrical energy provide, with the ability sector being the biggest shopper.
Qatar is Pakistan’s major LNG provider, and its cargoes move via the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s retaliatory assaults have focused power infrastructure throughout the Middle East, together with the oil site visitors passing via the Strait.
Rising prices earlier than Eid
The gas disaster in Pakistan emerged throughout the closing days of Ramadan, when households are getting ready for the Eid al-Fitr vacation, crucial Muslim pageant.
Higher petrol costs have already pushed up transport fares and the price of groceries, including stress on family budgets at a time when spending usually rises.
Muhammad Zubair, a plumber within the capital, Islamabad, whose household lives in Muzaffarabad, the primary metropolis in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, says the gas disaster has immediately affected his earnings.
“I remain mobile for work on my motorbike, but with fuel getting so expensive, it just eats into my savings,” he instructed Al Jazeera, including that his plans to go house every week earlier than Eid are actually thwarted as he might need to remain again within the metropolis and lower your expenses.
Sohail Ahmed, a 27-year-old supply rider supporting a household of seven, says the federal government’s austerity measures matter much less to him than the rising price of gas.
“There is no benefit to me if they [government employees] work three days or five days a week,” he instructed Al Jazeera.
“For me, the main concern is the fuel price because that increases the cost of every little thing. With this situation not ending any time soon, I don’t have much to think about Eid.”
