ISLAMABAD Withdrawal of subsidies as per the governments agreement with the International Monetary Fund is to give another blow to the masses with electricity tariff increase of 13.6 per cent from January 1, 2010. According to sources, the government would be issuing a notification in this regard sometime next week. This time the sword of power tariff increase would also fall on the lifeline consumers that so far have been exempted from successive increases. Moreover, the power increase would also cover the agriculturists, the sources told TheNation. According to the sources, the IMF during its last review meeting had expressed concerns over the power subsidy being provided to the domestic and the agriculture sectors. As per the commitments made to the IMF, the government is supposed to increase the electricity tariff by 30 per cent total by June 2010. Thus the government has been doing that in phases. Already in October last, the government had increased a little over 4 per cent power tariffs while it was required to increase the electricity tariff by six per cent. During the current fiscal year, the government has allocated Rs 121 billion for electricity subsidies including Rs 7 billion for lifeline consumers. The sources said that the Finance Ministry wanted an increase of 13.4 percent from January as committed to the IMF. While, on the other hand the Ministry of Water and Power has suggested that the tariff increase be made in three parts each segment be implemented in January, February and March to avoid political reactions. The sources said that the Ministry of Water and Power has suggested that power tariff be increased in a breakup of 6 percent for January, 5 percent for February and around 5 percent for March. However, the sources said that a final decision in this regard would be taken after a meeting between the Minister for Water and Power and the Finance Minister.