The government on Thursday announced a hike of Rs14.85 per litre in the price of petrol, the fourth such raise in the last 35 days, taking the cumulative amount of all hikes since May 26 to nearly Rs100.
According to a notification issued by the Finance Division, petrol will now be priced at Rs248.74 after the latest hike, followed by high speed diesel at Rs276.54, kerosene oil at Rs230.26 and light diesel at Rs226.15.
The notification said in view of the fluctuations in prices in the international market and exchange rate variation, “the government has decided to partially apply the petroleum levy and revise the existing prices of petroleum products as agreed with the development partners.”
As per the notification, Rs10 petroleum levy has been applied on petrol and Rs5 each on high speed diesel, kerosene oil and light diesel.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad soon after the price hike notification issued by the Finance Division, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said Pakistan had received a Memorandum of Economic and Fiscal Policies from the International Monetary Fund, which had some prior actions.
“One of the prior actions required us to revive the programme and raise petroleum development levy, but the PTI reneged on its accord with IMF at the end of February,” the minister said.
Ismail said the government had to apply Rs10 PDL on petrol and Rs5 on diesel.
He said the country suffered a loss of Rs233 billion during the tenure of the previous government, adding that “Rs30 levy should have been imposed on petrol as per the agreement signed by the PTI with the IMF.”
He, however, added the government did not impose any taxes to provide relief to the masses.
