Petrol soars to Rs272 per litre as govt hikes prices of petroleum products

Hours after tabling a finance bill in parliament to revive a stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme, the federal government on Wednesday increased the price of petrol by Rs22.20 and high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs17.20. According to a press release issued by the Finance Division, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the prices of kerosene and light diesel oil were also increased by Rs12.90 and Rs9.68 respectively. The new price of petrol is Rs272 per litre while HSD will cost Rs280 per litre. Kerosene will be available at Rs202.73 whereas LDO will be sold at Rs196.68 per litre. “Increase in price is due to Pakistani rupee devaluation applicable for the calculation of current pricing period,” the press release said, adding that the prices would be effective from February 16 (Thursday). The government is in a race against time to implement new tax measures and reach an agreement with the IMF as the country’s reserves have depleted to a critically low level of $2.9bn, which experts believe is enough for only 16 or 17 days of imports.