Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Sunday announced a reduction in the price of petrol by Rs 3.05 per litre and a hike of Rs8.95 in the price of diesel.

“The government is able to decrease the price of petrol by Rs 3.05 per litre,” he tweeted. “The price of diesel has however gone up by Rs 8.95.”

He said that the new prices will be effective from midnight tonight.

The price of Kerosene was similarly increased by Rs4.62 per litre while that of light diesel oil (LDO) was reduced by Rs0.12 per litre.

The new prices are as follows: Rs227.19 for petrol, Rs244.95 for diesel, Rs201.07 for Kerosene and Rs191.32 for LDO.

According to a press release he shared from the Finance Division, the government had decided to revise the existing prices of petroleum products to pass on the impact of fluctuations in petroleum prices in the international market and exchange rate variation.

Senior government officials had told Dawn that both major petroleum products — high speed diesel (HSD) and petrol – were set to go down significantly with effect from August 1, but three major factors — currency depreciation, higher petroleum development levy (PDL) and increase in dealer commission — deprived the consumers of the benefit of the international price cut.

These officials said the government had committed a prior action with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase PDL by Rs10 per litre on HSD, kerosene and LDO and Rs5 per litre on petrol to ensure a uniform rate of Rs15 per litre on all products at the start of August. At present, PDL is Rs10 per litre on petrol and Rs5 each on HSD, kerosene and LDO.

On July 14, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced a reduction of Rs18 to Rs40 per litre in the prices of various products as international prices went down. This was the first time the PMLN-led coalition government reduced petroleum prices after it came to power in the second week of April.

Between May 26 and July 1, the petrol price had increased by 66 per cent, or Rs99 per litre, while HSD price went up by 92pc since May 26 from Rs144.15 per litre, up by 132.39 per litre. Likewise, the ex-depot price of kerosene had gone up to Rs230.26 per litre, up by 95pc between May 26 and July 1. Similarly, the ex-depot price of LDO went up to Rs226.15 on July 1, up 80pc from Rs125.56 per litre on May 26, up by about Rs100.59 per litre.

Under the deal with the IMF, the government has to gradually increase PDL on oil products to a maximum of Rs50 per litre to collect Rs855bn during the current fiscal year.