Govt raises petrol price by Rs0.45, high-speed diesel by Rs1.16

On Thursday, the government increased the price of petrol by Rs0.45 per litre and of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs1.16.

As a result of this adjustment, the petrol price will stand at Rs325.43 per litre while HSD will be available at Rs383.95 per litre. It may be noted that the government will continue to charge taxes and duties of Rs114 per litre in case of petrol and Rs100 per litre in case of diesel.

As per a notification issued by the Petroleum Division, the prices will remain in effect for the period of August 14 (Friday).

The price of HSD fell from its record high of Rs520.35 witnessed on April 3. Since the outbreak of the war between US and Iran on February 28, the HSD price was on the rise from its level of Rs281 per litre.

In this context, the petrol price also rose from its low of Rs266 per litre to reach a record level of Rs458.41 per litre on April 3.

Earlier, the Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik announced that henceforth the fuel prices would be determined on a daily basis due to fluctuations in the international markets following renewed tensions between Iran and US.

Since March, the government was fixing the prices of fuels weekly along with other measures of fuel conservation in view of possible disruption in oil supplies owing to the conflict situation prevailing in the Middle East region. In April, the federal government even took relief measures in terms of subsidizing the prices of fuels.

Petroleum minister Ali Pervaiz Malik revealed that the decision was made by the cabinet and the Prime Minister to entrust the authority of fixing fuel prices on a daily basis to Ogra taking into account international trends.

Daily pricing of fuels has been opposed by the All Pakistan Dealers Association which has expressed its resolve to consider plans for protest march.

It is worth mentioning here that petrol is mostly used for the movement of private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws and motorcycles and any change in its price affects the middle and lower-middle class people. The same applies to diesel prices which also affect a lot of people as it is mainly used in the heavy transport industry and power generation plants.

Petrol and HSD are the major revenue earning fuels as compared to kerosene whose demand is only of 10,000 tonnes monthly.