KARACHI: Pakistan on Wednesday announced raising the price of petrol by Rs1.45 due to fluctuating global oil prices and exchange rate variations, the finance division said.
The notification for revised prices is usually issued around midnight but was released by the finance division around 2am on Wednesday morning. According to the notification, the price of petrol has been increased from Rs235.98 to Rs237.43 while High Speed Diesel (HSD) price has been kept unchanged at Rs247.43.
The price of kerosene has been slashed by Rs8.30 from Rs210.32 to Rs202.02 and the price of light diesel oil has been reduced by Rs 4.26 from Rs201.54 to Rs197.28.
“In the wake of fluctuating global oil prices and exchange rate variation, the government has decided to revise the prices of petroleum products,” the notification read.
Pakistan’s consumer price index (CPI) surged to a multi-decade high of 27.3 percent in August from a year earlier, government data shows, as authorities warn massive flooding in the country could exacerbate already skyrocketing prices.
Price rises in staples, including vegetables, wheat and cooking oil led the high inflation, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on. September 1. In July, annual CPI inflation was at 24.9 percent.
Economists said the August inflation was the highest in more than 40 years.
Pakistan’s 220 million people were already facing rampant inflation before the flooding and the economy is in turmoil, with fast-depleting foreign reserves and a record fall of the rupee against the dollar.
