Govt raises petrol price by Rs2.10 per litre, high-speed diesel by Re0.30 per litre

The Pakistani government raised the price of petrol by Rs2.10 per litre and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Re0.30 per litre on Friday. The new retail prices will be Rs392.76 per litre for petrol and Rs399.64 per litre for HSD. The government continues to impose taxes and duties of Rs114 per litre on petrol and Rs100 per litre on diesel.

The revised prices come into effect from October 3 (Saturday) to October 5 (Monday). The HSD price has decreased since its peak of Rs520.35 on April 3, following the US-Iran war that started on February 28. Meanwhile, the government has implemented austerity measures in response to the rising fuel prices due to the Middle East conflict.

These measures include reducing market closing hours to 9pm and cutting fuel allocations for official vehicles by 50% for three months. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a "relief scheme" on September 13 to alleviate the burden on users of motorcycles, autos, and vehicles up to 800cc. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar acknowledged the success of the scheme, attributing it to a "whole of government" approach.

The National Steering Committee on Fuel Subsidy reviewed the scheme's implementation, with participation from various ministries, including information, IT, and petroleum, as well as the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and the State Bank of Pakistan. As of now, approximately 7.60 million registrations have been made, and 7.71 million tokens have been redeemed.

Fuel prices were set to be fixed daily due to fluctuations in international market prices following renewed hostilities between Iran and the US. Prior to this, fuel prices were revised weekly since early March and measures for fuel conservation were introduced in case of possible oil supply disruptions due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Petrol is mainly used in private transport, affecting the middle and lower-middle classes, while diesel is widely used in the heavy transport sector, power plants, and large generators, impacting the general public. Both petrol and HSD are major revenue earners, with monthly sales of 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes of petrol and 10,000 tonnes of HSD.