After record jump in a day, petrol hits all-time high

Pakistanis woke up on Sunday to a record single-day hike in the petrol price — which also now stands at an all-time high of around Rs250 a litre — after the government moved to address a run on filling stations fuelled by shortage fears, especially in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, the government had little success in smoothing out a fragile supply chain that has been on edge for weeks due to a shortage of foreign exchange. The Rs35 per-litre increase in the price of petrol — along with a similar jump in the prices of high-speed diesel (HSD), and a Rs18 rise in light diesel oil (LDO) and kerosene rates — came three days before the scheduled fortnightly announcement. In a short televised address that started 10:50am on Sunday morning, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the price revision would go into effect at 11am — 10 minutes later.