ISLAMABAD: The federal government has slashed petroleum prices by up to Rs40.54 per litre.
The decision was announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his address to the nation on Thursday.
The PM said that his government had jacked up the oil prices after coming into power to mainly meet the International Monetary Fund’s conditions (IMF), which were agreed by the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
However, now the prices are witnessing a downward trend in the global oil market and the government has decided to approve a decrease in the price of petrol and diesel by Rs18.50 and Rs40.54 per litre, respectively.
Petrol will be available at Rs230.24 per litre, diesel at Rs236 per litre, kerosene oil at Rs196.45 and light diesel oil (LDO) at Rs 191.44/litre across the country from today.
The per litre price of petrol before the latest notification was Rs249.40 while diesel was being sold for Rs276 per litre.
Furthermore, according to the summary prepared by the Finance Ministry, the government has reduced the petroleum development levy from Rs10 to Rs5 and sales tax to zero.
Finance minister Miftah Ismail also tweeted that “the PM has just announced reduction in the prices of petrol of Rs 18.5/litre & in diesel of Rs 40.54/litre.
The new price of petrol is Rs230.24 & diesel is Rs 236/litre from 15/7 and Kerosene is reduced by Rs33.81 to Rs196.45 & LDO is reduced by Rs37.71 to Rs191.44″.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail while speaking to the press had said that the government had received a summary of the reduction in petroleum products’ prices from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) recommending a cut in prices and the Fund has no objection to it. “Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wants to give immediate relief to the people,” he added.
“Nations see difficult times and the Pakistani nation understands the situation during crises but now the time to give relief to the nation after difficult times has come,” the minister said further.
It may be recalled that global benchmark Brent crude tumbled $7 to below $100 a barrel on Tuesday on a strengthening dollar, demand-sapping Covid-19 curbs in top crude importer China, and rising fears of a global economic slowdown, according to a report by Reuters.
Good Job.