Petrol may become more expensive from February

ISLAMABAD: The prices of petroleum products in Pakistan are likely to go up yet again from February 1.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has sent a summary of the prices of petroleum products in which it has proposed an increase of Rs12 per litre for petrol and Rs10 per litre for diesel, say sources in the petroleum division.

The final decision would be taken by the Ministry of Finance headed by Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh after consultation with Prime Minister Imran Khan. Ogra prepared its summary on the basis of a levy of Rs30 per litre. Currently, the levy on petrol is Rs21.56 per litre and Rs23.9 per litre on diesel.

The government can reduce the proposed increase to a very low level by not increasing the levy or it can maintain the current prices of petroleum products with a slight reduction in the levy.

On January 1, the price of petrol went up by Rs 2.31 and diesel by Rs1.80, while on January 15, the government again increased the price of petroleum products with petrol becoming Rs3.20 more expensive per litre and diesel Rs2.95 more expensive per litre.