Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Wednesday that petrol prices will be cut by Rs8 per litre and diesel prices by Rs5 per litre for the next fortnight.

The new prices of petrol and high-speed diesel are Rs262 and Rs253 per litre, respectively.

The price for kerosene oil will remain unchanged at Rs164.07 while the price of light diesel oil (LDO) was slashed by Rs5 per litre to Rs147.68.

The price cut will come into effect at midnight tonight.

In a video address, he said that there was no substantial change in the prices of petroleum products in the last 15 days.

“It was still attempted considering all the factors that whatever room can be created [for relief] should be done and passed on to the people,” the finance minister said.

This is the second substantial cut in oil prices in a span of two weeks. On May 15, the price of petrol was reduced by Rs12, and diesel was brought down by Rs30 per litre.

Facing a deep economic crisis, Pakistan has started to buy Russian oil at a discounted price.

Pakistan, the world’s fifth most populous country, faces chronic energy shortages and imports 84 percent of its petroleum products, overwhelmingly from Gulf Arab allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Last week, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik confirmed the vessels carrying 0.1 million tons of discounted Russian oil will arrive at Pakistan’s ports in the first week of June and is part of the energy security plan of the government.

“Russian cargo carrying 100,000 tons Urals will reach Oman port on May 26-27 where oil in small vessels will be transported to Pakistan in seven to 10 days,” the minister said. The transportation will cost more but not by much, he assured.