Pakistan keeps petrol prices unchanged for another 15 days

Employees at a fuel station wait for customers in Islamabad on February 16, 2022. (AFP/File)

• Finance Minister Ishaq Dar says government increased price of diesel by Rs7.50 per liter
• Pakistan hiked fuel prices over past year, pushing inflation to unprecedented levels

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to keep the price of petrol unchanged for another fifteen days, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced late Friday in a bid to save the masses from the crushing weight of already high inflation.
To comply with tough conditionalities imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package, Pakistan hiked fuel prices over the past year, pushing inflation to historic highs.
“Effective after 12 am tonight, there will be no increase in the price of petrol and old prices will remain in place,” Dar announced in a late-night press conference.
“There will be an increase of Rs7.50 per liter in the price of diesel for the next fifteen days.”
The finance minister added that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had tried its best to keep the prices of petroleum products at a minimum after which the government had approved the new rates.
Pakistan’s energy imports during the last fiscal year were $23.3 billion, 29 percent of the country’s total imports. During the current fiscal year, the country imported energy products worth $7.7 billion, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).