Protests against high power bills in Pakistan grew on Wednesday after the government refused to slash energy prices without the nod by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A massive increase in the price of electricity triggered protests across major cities earlier, with angry people burning the bills, blocking highways and attacking the power companies’ offices.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar Kakar has promised relief, but his Cabinet on Tuesday said slashing the bills would jeopardise a massive IMF loan.

The global lender had put Pakistan under tough conditions to end energy subsidies and meet revenue targets for a three billion U.S. dollars loan in July aimed at reviving the nuclear-armed nation’s crumbling economy.

“We will talk to the IMF to provide relief,” Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said.

But the government’s inaction prompted more people to join rallies and protests all over the country, including in the capital Islamabad.

“We are drowned in the flood of inflation. These bills are unbearable. If I pay the bill this month, I cannot feed my three kids,” said Noorul Amin, a cab driver.

Mohamed Karamat, a barber in a middle-class neighbourhood, received a 60,000 rupee (200 U.S. dollars) bill for the month of August, which he said was beyond his means to pay.

Unions for traders and industrialists said they would not be able to run businesses at the current level of energy prices.

“It’s going to be very, very tough,” said Ajmal Baloch, a trade union leader in Islamabad.

The prices of electricity have doubled in the past year while the rates of fuel have gone up by more than 150 per cent in Pakistan.