Pakistan slashes petrol price by PKR 14, high-speed diesel by PKR 13.5

The Pakistan caretaker government slashed the rates of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Pakistan rupees (PKR) 14 and PKR 13.5 per litre respectively for the next fortnight, Dawn News reported.

It reported citing a notification from the Pakistan Ministry of finance, the new prices of petrol are PKR 267.34 and PKR 276.21 for HSD.

Meanwhile, the prices of kerosene oil and light-diesel oil were reduced by PKR 10.14 and PKR 11.29 per litre, respectively, to PKR 191.02 and PKR 164.64.

Informed officials had previously said the prices of major petroleum products were set to fall by over PKR 10 per litre each on December 15 for the next fortnight, mainly because of a decline in the international market.

The Pakistan based news daily reported that the international prices of both oils had declined over the past fornight by almost five per cent while the rupee had also gained marginally against the US dollar, resulting in a drop in domestic prices for consumers.

The State Bank reported the dollar had settled at PKR 283.51 on Thursday after losing against the local currency. Dealers said the market stayed calm even though importers were facing a tough time getting their letters of credit opened.

Dawn News reported, quoting a press release from the State Bank in Pakistan, that the foreign exchange reserves increased by $21 million to $7.04 billion during the week ended on December 8.

The central bank has been buying dollars from the interbank market to maintain its reserves above the $7 billion level. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been insisting on increasing its reserves but massive debt servicing slashes its reserves.

Additionally, the government has already achieved the PKR 60 per litre petroleum levy--the maximum permissible limit under the law, Dawn News reported.

Dawn news reported that the pakistan government has set a budget target to collect PKR 869 billion as petroleum levy (PL) during FY24 made with the IMF but is now hoping the collection to go beyond PKR 950 billion by the end of June.

The total PL collection crossed PKR 222bn in the first quarter ending September, even though its per litre rates had increased slowly over the period on petrol and kept almost unchanged.