The government has decided to keep the prices of all major petroleum products unchanged for the next 15 days, reported Aaj News on Tuesday.

The price of petrol will remain Rs179.86 per litre while the price of high-speed diesel will stay at Rs174.15 per litre.

"Prime Minister has been pleased to approve maintaining the prices of petroleum products at the level of 27-31 May 2022," said a notification issued by the Finance Division.

Govt announces increase in petrol price by Rs30

The notification further added that the government will bear the PDC on petroleum products.

The development comes days after the government increased petroleum products prices by Rs30 per litre in an effort to revive the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

Earlier, Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir Khan had said that the government will further hike petroleum product rates before June 30.

“The next price hike is expected to be announced before June 30, because our public finances are in a dire state,” said Dastgir, while talking to Aaj News programme Rubaru with Shaukat Paracha on Sunday night.

Next price hike in petroleum products before June 30: Khurram Dastgir

Dastgir had said that the decision of increasing petroleum product rates was crucial in order to curb the growing current account deficit. “It is with a very heavy heart that the decision was taken by the government, as we need to reduce our deficit”

“On a daily basis, millions of litres of petroleum are consumed, the government was incurring losses to the tune of Rs102 billion per month due to petroleum product subsidy. Therefore, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after consulting his allied partners decided to reduce the subsidy and increase funding for the direct relief measures for the public,” said the minister.