The federal government decided on Friday to keep unchanged the price of petrol while increasing the rate of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs7.5 per litre with effect from July 1, 2023.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced this in a brief press conference on Friday.

“The government has decided not to increase the price of petrol; however, the price of HSD will be increased by Rs7.5 per litre for the next fortnight,” he said, adding that the new prices will come into effect from midnight.

The revised petrol and high-speed diesel prices are Rs262 and Rs260.50 per litre, respectively.

The finance minister did not announce if there were any changes in the prices of kerosene and light-diesel oil.

Dar said the increase in HSD price was due to a hike of $3.5 per barrel in diesel prices in the international markets in the last few days, with a similar upward trend for petrol prices.

He said the Ogra team had looked to pass on the minimum possible price increase to consumers as per the prime minister’s instructions, so there was no increase in the petrol price.

“However, because there has been a lot of negative movement and increase in prices for [high-speed] diesel, they (Ogra) recommended the government to implement a minimum increase of Rs7.5 in the price of diesel.”