Ishaq Dar dispels 'untrue' reports about decline in petrol price

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday said that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) did not recommend a decrease in the price of petrol, terming the reports as "baseless and untrue". 

"Some reports have been circulating in the press and electronic media stating that Ogra made a recommendation to the government for a reduction in the price of Motor Spirit/Petrol with effect from 1st May 2023, which are baseless and untrue," the financial czar wrote in a Twitter post. 

Imran Ghaznavi, who is the spokesperson for Ogra, also rejected the reports and said that the authority did not recommend any decrease in the price of petrol.

“The recent decrease in international price was offset against the outstanding exchange rate adjustment, and as such, there was no room for a decrease in the local prices of MS/petrol," he added.

Petrol price unchanged

The federal government last Sunday announced reducing the price of diesel by Rs5 per litre, however, they kept the price of petrol unchanged for the next fortnight.

Dar said the new prices had been worked out to provide “maximum relief” to the masses on the instructions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The finance minister had also announced Rs10 per litre reduction in the prices of Kerosene oil and Light Diesel Oil (LDO) each.

Following the notification of new prices, petrol is now available at Rs282, HSD Rs288, kerosene oil Rs176.07 and light diesel oil Rs164.68 per litre.

Before the announcement of the new petroleum prices, sources in the oil marketing companies (OMCs) had told Geo News that the price of petrol was likely to be declined by Rs4.5 per litre while the price of diesel was expected to go down by Rs6 per litre.