ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has increased the price of petrol by up to Rs9.66 per liter for the next 15 days effective from Monday, a notification by the Finance Division said, adding the move was taken due to the surging price of petrol in the global market.
The price of high speed diesel (HSD), however, has been slashed by Rs3.32 per liter. After the revisions, the new price of petrol is Rs289.41 per liter while the price of HSD is Rs282.24 per liter.
“The price of petrol (Motor Gasoline) has increased in the international market during the last fortnight, while the price of HSD has marginally declined,” the notification read.
“The government has accordingly decided to revise the existing consumer prices of petroleum products.”
The notification said the price adjustments are in line with the government’s policy of passing on price variations in the international market to the domestic one.
“The consumer price of HSD has accordingly been decreased once again, after a downward revision in the middle of March 2024,” it said.
The development comes as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government seeks a fresh long-term financial bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Pakistan desperately needs the bailout as it looks to secure external financing to shore up its foreign reserves and stave off a macroeconomic crisis that has seen its reserves plummet and currency weaken significantly against the US dollar in the last two years.
The South Asian country has hiked petrol and gas prices in the past in line with IMF’s fiscal objectives, triggering a surge in inflation and nationwide protests.
A new IMF program will mean committing to steps needed to stay on a narrow path to recovery, but which will limit policy options to provide relief to a deeply frustrated population and cater to industries that are looking for government support to spur growth.
Inflation touched a high of 38 percent with record depreciation of the rupee currency under Sharif’s last government from April 2022 to August 2023, mainly due to structural reforms necessitated by the IMF program. Pakistan continues to be enmeshed in economic crisis with inflation remaining high, hovering around 30 percent, and economic growth slowing to around 2 percent.
