The government on Tuesday jacked up the per litre price of petrol by Rs 1.71 and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs 1.52 which will be effective from Wednesday across the country.
Federal Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar after getting consent from the premier has announced the prices of petroleum products for the month of March 2017.
According to minister, it has been decided to increase the price of petrol by Rs. 1.71/Litre which is mainly used in cars and electricity generators, while the price of HSD is being increased by Rs. 1.52/Litre, which is mostly used in the transport and agriculture sectors. Only a partial increase in MS Petrol and HSD of what had been recommended by OGRA is passed on to the end consumers for March 2017, Ishaq Dar said.
Finance minister while announcing future POL prices said that the government has ended fifteen days revision mechanism of POL prices. He said, “In line with the Prime Minister’s instructions to provide maximum relief to the common man and keeping in view that Kerosene Oil and LDO is used by the low-income people, it has been decided to pass on a nominal raise to the end consumer in the prices of Kerosene oil (SKO), used for cooking purposes in remote areas where liquefied petroleum gas and LDO is not readily available. He said that the per litre price of Kerosene oil is increased by 75paisa and LDO price by 66paisa for the month of March.
Earlier, OGRA in its working paper regarding future oil prices worked out an upward revision in POL prices. OGRA asked the government to approve the huge increase in oil prices. According to OGRA’s working paper, hike up to Rs 17.55 per litre in the prices of SKO, LDO by Rs10.94/litre, HSD by Rs 2.18 and petrol by Rs 2.18 per litre.
