ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government has decided to remove the minimum requirement for motorists to purchase five liters of fuel in a single transaction to avail its subsidy plan, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said on Saturday, announcing a discount of Rs500 ($1.80) per week for owners of two and three-wheelers.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a fuel relief scheme for motorists this week. As per the scheme, a subsidy of Rs100 [$0.36] per liter is being provided to owners of motorcycles and three-wheelers for up to 20 liters of petrol a month, while owners of cars with engines of up to 800cc can claim the same discount on up to 30 liters.

The PMO announced on Saturday that the requirement to purchase a minimum of five liters of fuel in a single transaction has been removed by the government, allowing motorists to buy fuel in smaller quantities.

“On the prime minister’s instructions, motorcycles, qingqi rickshaws and rickshaws that require less than five liters of petrol will also receive a Rs500 discount once a week against a single token,” the PMO said.

It said the government will issue one token to owners of two and three-wheelers availing the scheme, with a total of four tokens to be issued per month.

“As before, people using vehicles with engines of up to 800cc will receive a Rs100 per liter discount on 10 liters of petrol every 10 days under the scheme,” it added.

“The existing system of issuing three tokens for 10 liters each during a month will continue.”

Sharif also directed that 20-year-old motorcycles, rickshaws and qingqi rickshaws be included in the fuel relief scheme. This means that motorcycles, rickshaws and qingqis registered on or after Jan. 1, 2006, are now eligible to register for the scheme.

The statement said Sharif is personally overseeing the implementation of the subsidy scheme.

“The prime minister has directed that the scope of beneficiaries be expanded and that the fuel discount be provided with dignity, ease and without interruption to those eligible under the scheme,” the PMO said.

Pakistan’s government decided to launch the scheme to cushion low-income motorists from the impact of surging oil prices as tensions in the Middle East between the US and Iran, as well as Houthi attacks targeting Saudi Arabia, drive up global oil prices.

Islamabad has raised the price of petroleum products repeatedly over the past few weeks, before slashing it two times consecutively on Thursday and Friday.

Pakistan reduced the ex-depot price of petrol by Rs1.65 [$0.006] to Rs389.14 [$1.4] per liter and high-speed diesel by Rs0.88 [$0.003] to Rs424.04 [$1.53] per liter, according to a Petroleum Division notification.

The new prices will remain in effect from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21.