ISLAMABAD: Caretaker government on Sunday announced a significant relief to general public by slashing the ex-depot price of petroleum products up to Rs 40 with effect from October 16.

The price of petrol has been slashed by Rs 40 per litre, whereas, price of high speed diesel (HSD) has also reduced by Rs 15 per litre. The new price of petrol is now Rs 283.38 per litre and HSD price is fixed at Rs 303.18 per litre.

Government has kept the petroleum levy (PL) rate unchanged at maximum limit of Rs 60 per litre on petrol. However, PL on HSD has been revised upward by Rs 5 to Rs 55 per litre for second half of October.

The interim government also cut the prices of light diesel oil (LDO) by Rs19.59 per litre and kerosene oil (SKO) by Rs22.43 for the next fortnight. After the massive reduction in the prices of petroleum products, the rates of kerosene oil will drop to Rs214.85 per litre.

In the wake of variations in international prices of petroleum products and the improvement in the exchange rate, the caretaker government has decided to revise the consumer prices of petroleum products.

The reduction in the petroleum prices will increase the sale of petroleum products in the country which dropped significantly. The petroleum products sales declined to 1.06 million tons, i.e., down significantly by 31 percent YoY and 25 percent MoM in September 2023, the lowest level since COVID lockdown in March 2020.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023