ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — The government has cut the price of petrol by Rs2.71 a litre and raised high-speed diesel by 31 paisa, taking petrol to Rs379.31 and diesel to Rs390.11 from Thursday, October 22, according to a Petroleum Division notification issued on Wednesday.
Petrol had been selling at Rs382.02 a litre and diesel at Rs389.80. The change follows a larger cut earlier this week, when petrol fell by Rs5.16 and diesel by Rs7.69.
Daily pricing
Fuel prices are now set daily by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on the basis of international market trends, according to the petroleum minister. The government revised prices weekly from early March, then moved to daily pricing on July 17, as renewed hostilities between Iran and the United States kept global oil markets volatile.
Taxes and duties make up about Rs114 of the price of every litre of petrol and about Rs100 of every litre of diesel.
Still far above pre-war levels
Prices have come down from their peaks but remain well above where they were before the US-Iran war began on February 28. Diesel stood at Rs281 a litre then and peaked at Rs520.35 on April 3. Petrol rose from Rs266 in early March to a high of Rs458.41 on the same day.
To ease the burden, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a relief scheme on September 13 for users of motorcycles, rickshaws and cars of up to 800cc. The government has also brought back austerity measures, requiring markets to close by 9pm and cutting fuel allocations for official vehicles by half for three months.∎
