Pakistan’s Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik has highlighted the stark difference between India and Pakistan regarding the fuel crisis after the Iran war drove oil prices to $126 per barrel, the highest since 2022.
Malik pointed at how India is relatively stable compared to his country because of its strategic oil reserves and adequate forex reserves, which absorbed the impact of the oil disruption due to the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
He also blamed the stringent bailout conditions imposed by International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Pakistan’s current situation.
“India doesn’t just have 600 Arab dollars worth of reserves but they also maintain strategic reserves. This helps them cushion this crisis. Besides, they are not part of IMF programme and they tried to insulate themselves by reducing taxation as oil prices soared … they had the fiscal space to do that,” he told a local news channel.
🇵🇰🗣🛢No Petroleum Reserves for Even a Single Day, says #Pakistan‘s Federal Minister for #Petroleum, Ali Pervaiz Malik,
❗️Adding that the country is not like 🇮🇳 #India with 60–70 days of reserves that can be released with a single signature, and warning that people still do not… pic.twitter.com/RcwHbH1YxX
— Mahalaxmi Ramanathan (@MahalaxmiRaman) April 28, 2026
The minister claimed that Pakistan had to speak with the IMF for relief for its people because of the rising oil prices.
Read | How Much Crude Oil Reserve Does India Have? What Union Minister Said
He said that during the budget, Pakistan decided with the IMF and other donor agencies that a levy on diesel and petrol will be charged to “check our losses”.
“Now, with diesel prices rising up to 3-4 times, we decided to reduce the levy to zero on diesel and shift the entire burden to petrol while protecting motorcyclists by giving them targeted subsidy. However, had we broken our commitment with IMF and increased our losses, the consequences would have been worse. We conducted backchannel negotiations with IMF and convinced them to reduce levy by Rs 80 per litre,” he said.
Pakistan slashed petrol prices by Rs 80 per litre, bringing it down to Rs 378, with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying the cut would be funded through the government’s petroleum levy. This came just a day after the government had raised both petrol and diesel prices, blaming rising global oil rates.
Read | “India Has Adequate Crude Oil Stores, Need To Be Atmanirbhar”: PM Amid Iran War
However, petrol and diesel prices have been relatively stable in India.
New Delhi has kept petrol and diesel prices largely stable by cutting central excise duties by around Rs 10 per litre on both fuels, helping oil marketing companies that were bleeding losses due to surging fuel prices. On top of that, India leaned on its large foreign exchange reserves, sourced crude oil from multiple countries, and tapped into its strategic petroleum reserves and fuel tax tools to cushion the economy from the worst effects of the global oil shock.
Malik also claimed that Pakistan does not have strategic oil reserves, “We only have commercial reserves. We have crude worth five to seven days. And the refined product with OMCs can only last 20-21 days. We are not like India which has 60-70 days of reserves and can release it with just a single signature.”