Petrol price up by Rs6.72/litre under IMF demand

ISLAMABAD: Following the strict conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to end the subsidies on petroleum products, the government has increased the prices of petrol by Rs6.72/litre and light diesel oil by 0.43/litre, despite drop in the crude price in the international market on demand fears as disappointing Chinese economic data renewed global recession concerns.

Over the last few days, the Pakistani rupee has strengthened against the US dollar, and the public was expecting some relief in POL [petrol, oil, lubricants] prices, but the Fund’s conditionalities dampened the expectations. Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had already hinted at no such relief in petroleum products prices.

According to the government’s announcement, high speed diesel price had beenreduced by Rs0.51/litre and kerosene oil price slashed by Rs1.67/litre. The new prices would become effective from Tuesday (today) and remain unchanged till end-August.

In the last three days, the Brent price went down from a little over $100/barrel to $94.9/barrel till Monday. Earlier, on March 7, it hit US$139.13 a barrel. The all-time of $147.50 was last seen in July 2008.

The Finance Division, in a statement said, “In the wake of fluctuation in petroleum prices in the international market and exchange rate variation, the government has decided to revise the existing prices of petroleum products to pass on the impact to the consumers.”

After the increase, the ex-depot price of petrol will be Rs233.91 per litre, and light diesel oil (LDO) Rs191.75/litre, high-speed diesel price would be Rs244.44 per litre and kerosene Rs199.40/litre.

The Pak rupee has continued the gain since its drop to a historic low of Rs233.94 against the dollar on July 28, 2022. Since then, it has continuously strengthened its value. The local currency gained about Rs18.75 or 7.51 per cent during the past seven trading days till August 10, 2022.

The incumbent government start increasing POL prices on May 26, 2022 when the benchmark Brent was at $112 per barrel.