ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — The government has cut the price of petrol and high-speed diesel for the next fortnight, offering modest relief to motorists and transporters after months of volatile, war-driven swings at the pump.
Petrol will fall by Rs5.16 a litre to Rs381.14, while high-speed diesel (HSD) drops by Rs7.69 a litre to Rs389.27, according to a notification from the Petroleum Division. The new rates take effect from Tuesday, 20 October.
The government continues to levy Rs114 a litre in taxes and duties on petrol and Rs100 a litre on diesel, figures that have remained a point of contention even as international prices have eased.
The cut is a comparatively small correction after a year in which fuel prices moved further and faster than at almost any point in recent memory. Diesel stood at Rs281 a litre before the Iran–US war broke out on 28 February; it peaked at Rs520.35 on 3 April. Petrol followed a similar arc, rising from Rs266 in early March to Rs458.41 at its April peak.
Pricing itself has changed shape over the same period. Rates were set weekly from early March, then moved to a daily mechanism on 17 July after renewed hostilities between Iran and the United States added fresh volatility to global oil markets. The petroleum minister said the cabinet and the prime minister had authorised the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) to set prices daily in line with international trends, replacing the older fortnightly and weekly reviews.
The price swings prompted the government to reach for austerity measures alongside pricing changes: markets have been ordered to close by 9pm, and fuel allocations for official vehicles were cut by half for three months. On 13 September, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif separately announced a relief scheme for users of motorcycles, auto-rickshaws and vehicles up to 800cc, aimed at offsetting the burden of higher global oil prices on lower-income households.
Petrol and diesel remain the government’s two largest sources of fuel-related revenue, with combined monthly sales of roughly 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes, dwarfing the approximately 10,000 tonnes of kerosene sold each month. Petrol is the fuel of private cars, motorcycles and rickshaws, putting its price squarely in the budgets of middle- and lower-income households, while diesel underpins heavy transport, agriculture and backup power generation, giving its price a broader reach across the economy.∎
