By Muhammad Luqman
The government has announced a reduction of Rs15 per litre in the price of petrol, of Rs27.15 per litre in the price of high speed diesel (HSD), Rs30.01 per litre in the price of kerosene and of Rs15 per litre in the price of light diesel oil (LDO) in a bid to transfer the benefit of historic low in the world crude oil market to the consumers.
The price of petrol has been reduced to Rs81.58 from Rs96.58, while HSD will be marketed at the rate of Rs80.10 after a reduction of Rs27.15 from Rs107.25 per litre.
The price of kerosene has been reduced to Rs47.44 from Rs77.45 and LDO, which was previously sold at Rs 62.51 will now be priced at Rs47.51.
According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday, the government made the decision to slash prices of petroleum products to “provide relief to consumers”.
“The government is extending maximum relief to the public. Relief packages include economic stimulus package, Ehsaas emergency relief programme, incentive package for SMEs and many other relief measures. The latest one is [a] considerable decrease in the prices of petroleum products,” reads the notification.
The new prices will come into effect from May 1.
However, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had recommended up to Rs44.07 per litre reduction in the price of major petroleum products for the month of May on Wednesday to share the benefit of lower international prices with the consumers.
The regulatory authority had proposed a decrease of Rs33.94 to Rs73.31 for the price HSD, a drop of 31.6 per cent from Rs107.25.
It had also worked out a decrease of Rs20.68 per litre (down 21.4pc) to Rs75.9 for petrol, which previously stood at Rs96.58.
Ogra had also proposed that kerosene oil’s price be cut by Rs44.07 to Rs33.38 per litre, a 56.9pc decline from the Rs77.45 per litre rate that went into effect in late March.
