ISLAMABAD: Under pressure from the Finance Ministry, the government has decided to increase the prices of CNG and petroleum products even before the Eid holidays are over despite an announcement made by the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Petroleum, Dr Asim Hussain, on Aug 13 that petroleum prices would not be increased during August as an Independence Day gift to the nation.

The prices were kept unchanged by reducing the petroleum levy on each product, but under pressure from the Finance Ministry the levy was increased on Wednesday.

Sources in the Petroleum Ministry said the petrol price would go up by Rs3.21 per litre to Rs96.78 from Thursday. The new price of HOBC, with an increase of Rs4.85, is Rs125.01 per litre and of kerosene Rs96.35 with an increase of Rs3.52.

The price of high speed diesel, the most widely consumed petroleum product used in heavy vehicles and generators, has gone up to Rs106.19 per litre with an increase of Rs4.40, while that of light diesel oil has been increased by Rs3.19 to Rs93.30. LDO is used to run light engines to operate tube-wells and flour mills in rural areas.

The prices of the three kinds of aviation fuel produced in the country have been increased by Rs3.48 per litre and that of bio-fuel E-10 by Rs3.21 to Rs94.28 per litre.

The maximum petroleum levy rates the government is charging are Rs10 per litre on petrol, Rs14 on HOBC, Rs6 on kerosene and Rs8 on HSD.

The government also collects 16 per cent general sales tax on all products that fluctuates between Rs14 and Rs17 on various products with change in prices.

Since only kerosene and E-10 have not been deregulated, their prices are notified by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), while those of other products are notified directly by the oil marketing companies.

The rates of CNG have been increased to maintain a 60 per cent price parity with petrol.

The CNG price has been increased by Rs3.21 per kg to Rs88.61 from Rs85.67 for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Potohar region. The price for the rest of the country has been increased by Rs2.68 to Rs80.94 per kg.

With this increase, the CNG prices will reach their highest ever level.

The oil prices are set to be increased again by Rs3-4 per litre and of CNG by around Rs3 per kilogramme from Sept 1 because of rising oil prices in the international market.