Cash-strapped Pakistan sharply increased taxes on natural gas Tuesday to comply with a long-stalled financial bailout, and both industrial and everyday consumers were expected to feel the pain.
The government's bid to revive a $6 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund led it to hike taxes on natural gas for domestic and industrial consumers from 16% to 112%, shocking many Pakistanis who already are struggling. A similar increase in the price of electricity is expected to be announced this week.
