LAHORE: More than nine million people are benefiting from Pakistan’s petrol subsidy, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik said Sunday, according to state broadcaster Radio Pakistan, as the US-Iran war raises costs for motorists.

The war has disrupted Gulf energy supplies and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the passage connecting the Gulf to the Arabian Sea. Pakistan imports much of its fuel, leaving households and businesses exposed to higher international prices.

The Prime Minister’s Fuel Relief Scheme gives motorcycle and rickshaw users a weekly petrol token worth Rs500 ($1.80). Owners of cars with engines of up to 800cc receive a Rs100 ($0.36) discount per liter on up to 10 liters every 10 days. The government approved Rs75 billion ($271 million) for the program on Sept. 14.

Speaking at a public gathering in Lahore, Malik said the government was seeking to protect vulnerable groups from rising petroleum costs and had limited price increases to those required by the circumstances.

Since the war began, “the government had not tried to pass the entire burden on to the people,” Radio Pakistan reported, summarizing his remarks.

Malik’s figure updates the government’s report on Friday that more than 7.5 million people had benefited since Sept. 15. Officials told Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that registrations had exceeded 8.4 million, while more than 10.3 million of the 12.2 million tokens issued had been redeemed. The scheme was operating in 129 districts.

Redeemed tokens count transactions rather than individual recipients, because motorists can claim relief repeatedly.

Visits by Arab News to 10 petrol stations in Islamabad and neighboring Rawalpindi last month found motorists receiving subsidies alongside others encountering registration errors, documentation requirements and uncertainty over how to resolve them.