ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has rejected reports of a hike in prices of petrol and diesel as “misleading,” local media reported on Sunday, with a large number of Pakistanis panic buying the commodities in different cities across Pakistan.
These reports suggested that the government was going to increase the prices of petroleum products by as high as Rs83 per liter on February 1.
Consequently, long queues of vehicles and motorbikes were seen at gas stations in different cities as citizens panicked to fuel up their rides ahead of the possible hike.
“It has been observed that speculative prices of petrol and diesel are being reported in the print and electronic media since last evening (Saturday),” OGRA spokesman Imran Ghaznavi told Pakistan’s Geo News channel, adding that these reports were “misleading and incorrect.”
Pakistan revises petroleum prices every fortnight. The reports of the price hike follow more than 12 percent depreciation in the value of local currency against the US dollar, which prompted people to believe these reports.
OGRA advised “the elements, spreading misleading and incorrect information, to avoid disseminating speculative prices of petroleum products in the public interest,” the report read.
