New government increases petrol prices by Rs24 and diesel by Rs59 in third hike in three weeks
Petrol prices just took another big hike in Pakistan as the coalition government announced a third massive increase in fuel prices in the last 20 days.
A notification issued by the Finance Division said the prices have been increased due to the rising global oil prices and exchange rate variation.
On late June 15, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said that the federal government has decided to raise the price of petrol by another Rs24 per liter and diesel prices by a whopping Rs59. The new prices will come into effect on June 16 at midnight.
In the last three weeks (since May 26), petrol prices have increased by 56% and high-speed diesel by 83% in Pakistan.
New fuel prices as of June 16, 2022:
| Petrol | Rs 233.89/Liter |
| High Speed Diesel | Rs. 263.31/Liter |
| Kerosene | Rs. 211.43/Liter |
| Light Diesel Oil | Rs. 207.47/Liter |
Petrol price has been increased by Rs24.03 to Rs233.89, and diesel will be sold at Rs263.31. Meanwhile, kerosene oil’s new price will be Rs211.43 following an Rs29.49 surge and light diesel’s price will be Rs 207.47 after an increase of Rs29.16.
He clarified that the new price hike in petroleum products is because the international price of petrol was $120 per liter.
“Our country is still facing a loss of Rs24.03 in petrol, Rs59.16 in diesel, Rs29.49 in kerosene oil and Rs29.16 in light diesel oil,” he said. He said the government was spending Rs120 billion on petrol subsidies.
Ismail said the government is aware that the price increase will lead to further inflation but the government had no choice but to “pass on the impact of international prices to consumers” in Pakistan.
Minister of State for Petroleum Musadiq Malik said “the decision is taken because we import 9 million tonnes of oil every year, and 8.8 million tonnes of diesel and if we did not increase the price, the government would have had to bear a loss of over Rs100 billion monthly.”