Pakistan increases petrol price by nearly 4% for June

Islamabad: Pakistan’s federal government has increased the prices of petroleum products by 1.7 to 3.9 per cent, for the month of June ahead of Eid Al Fitr. The increase was announced in a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance on Friday night.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had recommended an increase of up to Rs8.99 (Dh0.22) in petroleum product prices for June 2019 following fluctuations in global crude prices and rupee depreciation against the US dollar.

According to the government notification, the price of petrol will be increased by 3.9 per cent from Rs108.42 to Rs112.68 per litre and the price of high speed diesel has inflated by 3.6 per cent to Rs126.82 per litre from Rs122.32. Meanwhile, the prices of kerosene and light diesel oil saw an increase of Rs1.69 and Rs1.68 per litre respectively. Kerosene will now cost Rs98.46 per litre as opposed to the previous price of Rs96.77, whereas light diesel oil will now cost Rs88.62 per litre in contrast to the previous price of Rs86.94.

The new prices will come into effect from midnight, June 1 and last up to June 30, 2019.

Prime Minister Imran Khan recently said that Pakistan faced “unprecedented economic crisis” as his government forecast growth of 4percent for year 2020 ahead of an austerity budget aimed at securing a $6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

Earlier in May 2018, government approved an increase in prices of petroleum products by up to nearly 10 per cent. The recent price hike in petroleum and other products are aimed at recovering a major revenue shortfall. Power and gas tariff hikes have also been announced.

Opposition slams government

Criticising the petrol price hike, opposition leaders say the increase in tariffs reflect policy failures of the government.

Pakistan Peoples Party Vice President Sherry Rehman, in a statement, said: “The failed government has given nothing [to the country] except inflation and unemployment in the past nine months. The revolutionary administration has increased oil prices by Rs20 within nine months.” She pointed out that the prices of oil in international market are falling but in Pakistan they are being increased.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, who is currently in London, regretted that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government had dropped a “petrol bomb on the public instead of providing them relief” right before Eid Al Fitr.