Millions of Pakistanis woke up on Tuesday to the first shock of 'Naya Pakistan' to find out that their next month's gas bill will be hiked by up to a whopping 143 per cent to recover Pakistani Rs 94 billion from the consumers. Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that the state gas companies were running in deficit and it was not possible for the government to continue with the existing price system.

The increase will be implemented in the gas bills of October and it will help the cash-starved government to recover Rs94 billion from consumers. The decision will hurt as many as 9.4 million domestic users, with 3.6 million of them falling in the lowest income slab and another 2.63 million in the second lowest income group.