Miftah Ismail, the Federal Finance Minister, declared on Wednesday that Pakistan could no longer afford to provide subsidies on petroleum products, thus it has chosen to raise the price of petrol by Rs 24.03, bringing it to a new high of Rs 233.89 per litre.
The minister declared that starting June 16, the price of petrol will be Rs 233.89 per litre, diesel will be Rs 263.31, kerosene oil will be Rs 211.43, and light diesel oil will be Rs 207.47.
Commodity | Old price/l | New price/l | Change |
Petrol | Rs 209.86 | Rs 233.89 | +24.03 |
Diesel | Rs 204.15 | Rs 263.31 | +59.16 |
Kerosene oil | Rs 178.31 | Rs 211.43 | +33.12 |
Light diesel oil | Rs 181.94 | Rs 207.47 | +25.53 |
Miftah, who was accompanied by State Minister for Petroleum Musaddaq Malik, began the press conference by criticizing the previous government’s actions, which he claimed “deteriorated the country’s economy.”
Petrol at 210 in Pakistan? Here’s how you can reduce your petrol cost by 40%
“Imran Khan purposefully lowered petrol costs by providing incentives,” Miftah remarked, adding that the existing government was facing the burden of those policies.
He claimed that Pakistan was currently losing Rs 24.03 per litre on petrol, Rs 59.16 on diesel, Rs 39.49 on kerosene oil, and Rs 39.16 on light diesel oil.
He said that as of May, the loss had surpassed Rs 120 billion, which is three times the civil government’s operating expenses of Rs 40 million.
PTI Rejects New Petrol Prices
Meanwhile, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry has reacted to the news by announcing on Twitter that his party had opposed the increase on petroleum products.
“With all our effort, we reject this robbery in the middle of the night,” he wrote. “The middle class has been shattered by such a large increase in gasoline prices. People should join the demonstrations against this incompetent administration.”