Ahead of the first round of review talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the caretaker government has increased the levy on high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs5, thus depriving masses of much-needed relief on Wednesday. Consequently, the levy which previously was Rs55 per litre has now risen to Rs60 per litre. On the other hand, petroleum levy on each litre of petrol remains unchanged at Rs60. Had the government not increased the levy, the HSD’s price could have come down. Denying relief to consumers, the caretaker government on Tuesday announced that the prices of petrol and diesel would remain unchanged for a fortnight.

 The prices of petrol and high speed diesel will remain at Rs283.38 and Rs303.18 per liter, respectively. However, the government slashed the prices of kerosene oil and light diesel. The govt slashed the price of kerosene oil by Rs3.82 per litre and the new price of kerosene oil is fixed at Rs 211.03 per litre. Similarly, the price of light diesel was slashed by Rs3.40 per liter as the new price of light diesel was fixed at Rs189.46 per lire. The finance division issued a notification of the new prices of petroleum products.

As per the notification, owing to the decreasing trend of petroleum prices in the international market and due to the appreciation of the Pak Rupee against the US dollar, the government decided to revise the existing consumer prices of petroleum products.

 Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)