Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s salary, which he had earlier said “wasn’t enough to run his household”, is being increased from Rs0.2 million (Rs200,000) to Rs0.8 million (Rs800,000), a private media outlet has reported.
While the report claimed that his salary was being increased by 300%, it was rejected by the PM’s Office that termed the report as “baseless” and “unfortunate”.
“At a time when the PM was carrying out a campaign to slash the government’s expenditures which he initiated from his own, the propagation of such a baseless and concocted news report was unfortunate,” a spokesperson remarked, according to a press release.
The spokesperson quoted PM Imran as saying that expenditures incurred on the head of the government were borne out of the people’s hard-earned money, so it was a must to keep it at the minimum level.
During a speech earlier this month, the premier had cited his expenses as an individual and as a public servant to make a point to traders while accusing opposition leaders of minting money by cheating on taxes.
While it is no secret that inflation has badly hit the average Pakistani citizen, PM Imran has been under fire as a nationwide shortage of wheat has led to a surge in prices of bread and roti.
The country’s economy has seen the rupee plummeting as it battles rampant price rise of various commodities, including pulses and flour.
Despite this, the fact that the PM tried to play a political game by trying to identify with an average citizen, didn’t make many people happy. His basic pay alone is enough to feed an average Pakistani household, leave alone the gross amount.
