Islamabad: The caretaker government on Friday night increased the prices of petrol by Rs26.02 and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs17.34 per litre, reaching record high in the country’s history.
The new petrol price will be Rs331.38 per litre from Saturday after an increase of Rs26.02 per litre while the new price of HSD will be Rs329.18 per litre after an increase of Rs17.34 per litre.
The announcement for increase in prices was announced by the Ministry of Finance through a notification at midnight on Friday after clearance from caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar.
“Owing to the increasing trend of petroleum prices in the international market, the government has decided to revise the existing consumer prices of petroleum products,” the notification said.
This is on top of Rs32.41 and Rs38.49 per litre increase in petrol and HSD prices, since August 15. The monthly increase of petrol prices is Rs58.43 and Rs55.83 for both petrol and HSD respectively.
The price of HSD is fixed after 5.6% increase and petrol price by 8.5%.
Both petrol and diesel have become expensive by 20% since the caretaker government took over.
Most of the transport sector runs on HSD. This highly inflated price will affect other sectors as it is mostly used in heavy transport vehicles, trains and agricultural engines, and particularly adds to the prices of vegetables and other eatables. Meanwhile the retail price at pump would, however, will be above Rs330 per litre.
The government did not announce any change in the prices of kerosene and light diesel oil but it has increased 88 paise per litre impact in sale margins for petroleum dealers and marketing companies after approval by the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet last week.
At present, the GST is zero on all petroleum products, but the government is charging Rs60 per litre petroleum development levy (PDL) on petrol and Rs50 on HSD, with Rs18-22 per litre customs duty on both petrol and HSD.
