Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Min­ister Imran Khan directed the autho­rities concerned to find “out of the box solution” to bring down electricity and gas tariffs to provide some relief to domestic consumers and reduce inflation in the country.

The prime minister issued the directive while presiding over a high-level meeting on the issue of prevailing high gas and electricity rates.

The prime minister was also apprised of the problems confronting gas and electricity producing and supplying companies, Dawn reported.

Blaming the previous governments for the hike in gas and electricity tariffs he said that they entered into costly international agreements without keeping in mind the purchasing power of the common man.“This resulted in costly electricity and piling up of the circular debt,” he added.

He said provision of relief to the poor and inflation-hit people and promotion of industries were top priorities of his government so that the wheel of the economy could move.