ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday increased prices of all petroleum products by up to 4.8 per cent for the next 15 days to pass on the partial impact of increase in international prices.

According to a notification issued by the finance ministry, the ex-depot price of petrol was increased by Rs5.40 per litre and that of high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs2.54 per litre. On the other hand, the ex-depot price of kerosene was increased by Rs1.39 per litre and that of LDO by Rs1.27 per litre.

The ex-depot rate of petrol was fixed at Rs118.09 per litre instead of Rs112.69 per litre at present, showing an increase of 4.8pc.

This is the highest-ever petrol rate, as per available official record, as it had previously peaked at Rs117.83 per litre in August 2019.

Petrol, HSD are two major products that generate most of revenue for the government

Petrol is mostly used in private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers and directly affects the common man.

The ex-depot HSD price was set at Rs116.53 per litre from the existing rate of Rs113.99 per litre, up 2.23pc. HSD is mostly used in heavy transport vehicles, trains and agricultural engines like trucks, buses, tractors, tube-wells and threshers.

The ex-depot price of kerosene was fixed at Rs87.14 per litre against Rs85.75 per litre, showing an increase of 1.62pc.

The ex-depot price of LDO was set at Rs84.67 per litre against Rs83.40 per litre at present, up 1.52pc. LDO is consumed by flour mills and a couple of power plants.

Petrol and HSD are two major products that generate most of revenue for the government because of their massive and growing consumption in the country.

The average petrol sales are touching 750,000 tonnes per month against the monthly consumption of around 800,000 tonnes of HSD. The sales of kerosene and LDO are generally less than 11,000 and 2000 tonnes per month, respectively.

Under the revised mechanism, oil prices are revised by the government on a fortnightly basis to pass on international prices published in Platt’s Oilgram instead of previous mechanism of monthly calculations on the basis of import cost of Pakistan State Oil.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2021