ISLAMABAD: The government has increased the prices of petrol and high speed diesel (HSD) by Re1 per litre each with immediate effect.
The announcement was made by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who also said the government had not passed on fully to consumers the price increase recommended by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and decided to absorb an additional Rs3 billion by not fully transferring to them the full impact of price hike in the international market.
Dar said the prices of other petroleum products were kept unchanged even though the petroleum ministry and its subordinate Ogra had recommended increase in their prices.
The ministry and Ogra had recommended an increase of Rs1.91 per litre in the price of petrol, Rs2.03 in the price of HSD, Rs16.7 in the price of kerosene and Rs12.5 in the price of LDO with effect from Feb 16, the minister said.
However, “on the directive of the prime minister we have decided to increase petrol and HSD prices by Re1 per litre,” he said.
Thus, the ex-depot price of petrol was increased by 1.4pc to Rs71.29 from Rs70.29 per litre while the ex-depot price of HSD went up by 1.26pc to Rs80.48 per litre from Rs79.48.
