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Voice of The People Report: VOP Latest Breaking News In view of the increasing trend of petroleum prices in the international markets, the caretaker government on Friday hiked the petrol prices by more than Rs 26 and diesel by over Rs17 per litre for the next fortnight.
Prices of Petrol & Diesel changed under the fortnightly review policy
The Finance Division said that the price of petrol will go up by Rs 26.02 per litre, and the price of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs 17.34 per litre. Now, the price for one litre of petrol will be Rs 331.38, and HSD price will be Rs 329.18.
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinistryPak) September 15, 2023
This is the second time with in a month that prices of petroleum products have been increased to take them to a historic high.
On September 1, the caretaker government had jacked up the petrol and diesel prices by over Rs14.
Price of Petrol goes up by Rs 26.02/litre, Diesel up by Rs17.34/litre
The Finance Division said the hike was due to the “increasing trend of petroleum prices in the international market and exchange rate variations”.
Back then the price of petrol went up by Rs14.91 per litre, and the price of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs18.44 per litre.
Decision taken due to increase in oil prices in international market
Today’s hike in petrol prices was expected due to the rise in global oil prices.
The rupee appreciation will have a positives impact on the petroleum prices, but it will not be enough to offset the impacts of rising global oil prices, an industry official told The News.
According to Reuters, Oil prices hit a 10-month high on Friday and were set to post a third weekly gain as supply tightness spearheaded by Saudi Arabian production cuts combined with optimism around Chinese demand to lift crude.
By 12:15pm EDT (1615 GMT), US West Texas Intermediate futures we’re up 62 cents, or 0.7%, to $90.78 a barrel and Brent crude futures we’re up 21 cents, or 0.2%, to $93.91 a barrel. Both benchmarks hit their highest since November 2022 earlier in the session, and are up about 4% for the week.
The government reviews and adjusts the petroleum prices every fortnight, based on Ogra’s recommendations. The final decisions, how ever, rests with the finance ministry, which some times absorbs part of the increase to provide relief to consumers.
But the government has to raise fuel prices as agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under a $3 billion standby agreements.
