ISLAMABAD – Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday announced a massive increase in petroleum prices for first fortnight of August 2023.
Addressing a press conference, he said petrol price has been increased by Rs19.95 and diesel price by 19.90 per litre.
He said the changes had been made keeping in view the upward trend in the international market.
— Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan (@Financegovpk) August 1, 2023
The new price of petrol has been fixe as Rs272.95 per litre while the price of high speed diesel has surged to Rs273.40.
The minister said the latest petrol and diesel prices will come into effect immediately, adding that the changes had been made keeping in view the upward trend in the international market.
This is the last time that the ruling coalition has revised the prices and the tenure its government ends on August 12.
Dar said it was inevitable for the government to increase the petroleum prices as Pakistan had agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on imposing petroleum development levy (PDL) to the prices.
He said the government would have announced decline in petroleum prices, if it had not been engaged with the global lender.
Last month, the Executive Board of the IMF approved a 9-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan for an amount of about $3 billion to support the authorities’ economic stabilisation programme. In return, the global lender has laid forth tough conditions on the cash-strapped country.
