Islamabad: The federal government on Thursday jacked up the price of petrol to Rs272 for the next fortnight.
The decision came at the moment when only few days were left from the Holy Month of Ramadan.
The Finance Ministry issued the notification for increase in the POL prices, citing depreciation of rupee against the greenback as the main reason behind the price hike.
“The price of petrol has increased by Rs5 per litre and the price of hi-speed diesel has increased by Rs13 per litre,” read the notification.
The price of Kerosene oil, as per the notification, went up by Rs2.56 while no decision was made for the price of low-speed diesel.
The government declared that the new prices would be effective from 12:00 am, March 16 till March 31.
The last decision was made on February 28 in which the price of petrol was decreased by Rs5 litre to settle at Rs267 per litre contrary to the market estimates as it was expected that the price of the petroleum products would go up as per the demands of International Monetary Fund for revival of stalled loan programme.
However, while people struggle to make ends meet the petrol price hike is expected to further push inflation — which is already near a 50-year high — in the upcoming month of Ramadan.
