Prices of petrol, kerosene hiked

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Political Affairs Dr Shahbaz Gill Friday announced that petrol price was being increased by Rs1.71 per liter on the recommendation of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) for the first fortnight of August 2021. Gill announced this through series of tweets, saying the price of diesel was not being hiked. After the increase, petrol will sell at Rs119.80 per liter, starting from August 1. Kerosene will be made dearer by Rs0.35/liter and will sell at Rs87.49 per liter.

“The diesel price impacts mostly on the common man and the farmer, so the summary of hiking diesel price has been rejected. Light Diesel Oil (LDO) price has also been kept unchanged,” he said.

“According to the data of July 26, the price of petrol in 27 countries of the world is lower than in Pakistan and in 140 countries it is higher than in Pakistan. The average price of petrol in the world is $1.19 per liter but the price of petrol in Pakistan is $0.72 per liter. Petroleum products grew 47% in the world but 11% in Pakistan.”

He asked the nation to "bear in mind" that the majority of 27 countries that had petrol price lower than the rate in Pakistan were "self-sufficient in petroleum products".

"At this time, the government is collecting nearly zero percent tax on petroleum products," Gill said, adding, "Right now, the whole world is in the grip of inflation due to corona."

It is worth mentioning that for the second-half of July, the government had raised the petrol price by Rs5.40 per liter and that of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs2.54 per liter. Similarly, the prices of kerosene and light-diesel oil (LDO) have also been increased by Rs1.39 and Rs1.27 per liter respectively.

Earlier, for first half of July, the government had also increased petrol price by Rs2 per liter, diesel Rs1.44 per liter, kerosene by Rs3.86 per liter and that of LDO by Rs3.72 per liter.