Govt increases petrol price by Rs4 per litre from Oct 1

The government on Thursday increased the price of petrol by Rs4 per litre and that of high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs2 per litre.

Meanwhile, the prices of kerosene oil and light diesel oil (LDO) were increased by Rs7.05 and Rs8.82 per litre, respectively.

From Oct 1, the price of petrol will be Rs127.30 per litre, high speed diesel will be Rs122.04 per litre, kerosene oil will be Rs99.31 and light diesel oil will be Rs99.51 per litre.

In a press release, the Finance Division said the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had worked out higher petroleum prices based on an increase in prices in the international market as well as exchange rate variations in the last two weeks.

However, Prime Minister Imran Khan had "decided against the recommendation and passed on the minimum increase in prices to the consumers", it stated.

The government absorbed the higher international pressure of prices through a reduction in the petroleum levy and the sales tax, according to the notification.

"Petroleum prices in Pakistan are the cheapest in the region," it added.

On Sept 15, the government had hiked the prices of all petroleum products by Rs5 to Rs6 per litre to pass on the impact of higher international market rates and currency depreciation.

Petrol and HSD are two major products that generate most of the revenue for the government because of their massive and growing consumption in the country. Average petrol sales are touching 750,000 tonnes per month against the monthly consumption of around 800,000 tonnes of HSD. The sales of kerosene oil and LDO are generally less than 11,000 and 2000 tonnes per month.

Under the revised mechanism, oil prices are revised by the government on a fortnightly basis to pass on international prices published in Platt's Oilgram instead of the previous mechanism of monthly calculations on the basis of import cost of Pakistan State Oil.

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