Pakistan jacks up petrol price by PKR 14.84 per litre

Islamabad [Pakistan], July 1 (ANI): The prices of petrol in Pakistan have again risen by PKR (Pakistani rupee) 14.84 per litre, a fourth time within a month, local media said.
After the recent hike, the new petrol price has been fixed at PKR 248.74 per litre, the Pakistan Finance Ministry announced.
The price of high-speed diesel has also been increased by PKR 13.23 per litre and the new price has been fixed at PKR 276.54 per litre, ARY News reported.
While the kerosene oil price increased by PKR 18.83 and the rate of light-speed diesel has been jacked up by Rs 18.68 per litre, the notification reads.
The new price will come into effect from 12 am on July 1.
The announcement was made by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail while addressing a press conference in Islamabad, citing government was not in a position to bear more subsidies anymore.
Ismail criticised the previous government's policies that, according to him, "deteriorated the country's economy".
The Finance Minister said the incumbent government was bearing the brunt of that, adding that currently, Pakistan, on every litre, was bearing a loss of PKR 24.3 on petrol, PKR 59.16 diesel, Rs 39.49 kerosene oil, and Rs 39.16 on light diesel oil, according to ARY News.
Earlier, on June 15, the Pakistani government increased the petrol price by PKR 24 per litre.
Dawn News reported that the prices of high-speed diesel (HSD), petrol, kerosene, and light diesel oil (LDO) have gone up by a massive 83pc, 56pc, 73pc, and 68.4pc respectively, since May 26.
The price of petrol jumped to PKR 233.79 from PKR 209.86 per litre, increasing by 56 per cent from PKR 149.86 per litre before May 27.
The price of kerosene has been fixed at PKR 211.43 per litre, jumping 73 per cent since May 26 from PKR 118.31 per litre.
Also, the ex-depot price of light diesel oil has been set at PKR 207.4 per litre, increasing 68.5 per cent from PKR 125.56 per litre in May.
Since the Shehbaz Sharif government has come to power in Pakistan, the daily essentials are getting costly and have become out of reach of the common man due to recent hikes in petrol prices and power tariffs, a local media report stated.
Miftah further said that despite the fuel hike causing
inflation and misery, it was a tough decision to make amidst the hike in fuel prices in the international market and exchange rates. Subsidised fuel prices were constantly increasing the fiscal deficit, thereby increasing pressure on the country's foreign exchange reserves, reported Dawn.
"We will only be able to control fuel prices when our difficult period ends and the country's relations with global financial institutions improve," he said as quoted by the publication. (ANI)