The caretaker government on Thursday night hiked the price of petrol by Rs2.73 per litre for the next fortnight.

The new price of petrol is now RsRs275.62 per litre from the previous price of Rs272.89, according to a notification from the Finance Division.

The price of high-speed diesel (HSD) was increased by Rs8.37 to Rs287.33 per litre.

In a late-night an­­nouncement, the Ministry of Finance said the government has decided to bring changes in the current prices of petroleum products during the fortnight starting from February 16, as recommended by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).

The notification did not mention any changes in the prices of kerosene oil and light diesel oil.

The prices of petrol and HSD were estimated to go up by Rs4-11 per litre for the next fortnight owing to higher international prices and import premiums, neutralising an impact of minor exchange rate gain.

Officials said the price of petrol had gone up by about $1.20 per barrel to $89.9 from $88.7 per barrel over the last two weeks while HSD had become costlier by about $3.5 per barrel — to $101.82 from about $98.4.

Meanwhile, the rupee on the other hand gained by about 40 paise against the dollar to Rs279.7 from a little over Rs280 in the first half of February. However, the premium paid by Pakistan State Oil for securing product cargoes went up slightly for petrol from $9.5 to $9.7 per barrel. It remained unchanged for HSD at $6.5 per barrel.

The government has already achieved Rs60 per litre petroleum levy — the maximum permissible limit under the law — on both petrol and HSD. The government had set a budget target to collect Rs869bn as petroleum levy on petroleum products during the current fiscal year under the commitments made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It has already collected about Rs475bn in the first half (July-December) although the per litre levy was gradually increased.

Currently, the government is charging about Rs82 per litre tax on both petrol and HSD. Although the general sales tax (GST) is zero on all petroleum products the government is charging Rs60 per litre PDL on both products. On the other hand, it is charging Rs50 per litre on high octane blending components and 95RON petrol.

Petrol and HSD are the major revenue spinners with their monthly sales of about 700,000-800,000 tonnes per month compared to just 10,000 tonnes of kerosene.