Govt Freezes Oil Prices For Another Week
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif late Friday decided to keep prices of petrol and diesel unchanged for another week.
The government claimed that premier had rejected a steep proposed increase and committed the government to a Rs. 56 billion subsidy to shield consumers.
Under the decision, petrol will remain at Rs. 321.17 per litre and high-speed diesel at Rs. 335.86 per litre, effective from Saturday.
The move comes after the Petroleum Division recommended a sharp hike of Rs. 95 per litre for petrol and Rs. 203 per litre for diesel. Sharif overruled the proposal, opting to absorb the cost amid mounting economic and geopolitical pressures.
According to industry officials, the actual increase in price of petrol was Rs 10 per liter and Rs 25 per liter increase in price of high speed diesel.
But the government had recommended to pass on full impact in prices of petrol and diesel since it was freezing during the last two weeks.
The government is also currently working to provide subsidies to the two wheelers and three wheelers only through registeraton on newly developed APP.
The government wants to pass on the full impact of the increase in prices of petroleum products to the four wheelers as well.
But this plan had not been implemented so far.
However, the government had not told the masses that it was collecting petroleum levy on petroleum products up to Rs 105 per liter which amounts to one third of total price of petrol. The government had estimated to collect over one trillion rupees during the ongoing financial year on account of petroleum levy from the consumers.
There had not been too much increase in the prices of petroleum products following the Donald Trump plan to pause the attack on power plants facilities of Iran.
Earlier, Trump had told the world that Iranian authorities had approached him to strike war deal. Islamabad was mediating the deal between Iran and the US. Washington had also floated their demands before Iran authorities which were rejected.
Due to this, the global oil prices had not witnessed too much hike following Trump’s claims.
Officials said the government has now provided a cumulative subsidy of Rs. 125 billion since shifting to weekly price revisions, reflecting efforts to cushion the public from volatile global oil markets.
Read More: Govt Raises Petrol, Diesel Prices by Rs55
The latest decision follows a similar move last week, when fuel prices were held steady as an Eid relief measure despite disruptions linked to the Gulf conflict.
Despite the temporary freeze, the broader trend remains upward, with fuel prices raised in three of the last five reviews, underscoring the fiscal strain of continued subsidies.