The federal government on Friday notified revised prices for fuel prices, reducing the ex-depot rates for both petrol and diesel by Rs. 1.97/liter each.
However, the price is markedly higher than prevailing global oil prices, as the government has—per routine—failed to pass on the full benefit to the public by hiking the petroleum development levy (PDL) on petrol to offset an equivalent decrease on diesel, effectively forcing commuters to subsidize the transport sector.
According to a Petroleum Division notification, the new price of petrol has been fixed at Rs. 297.53/liter, while that of diesel is Rs. 309.50/liter. This is the first decrease in retail fuel prices since June 19, when rates were slashed by Rs. 74/liter for petrol and Rs. 67/liter for diesel following the inking of a peace framework between Iran and the United States.
Reflecting the government’s prevalent policy of using PDL to deny significant relief to the general public, authorities have hiked the PDL on petrol by Rs. 6.22/liter, going from Rs. 64.14 to Rs. 70.36/liter. The PDL on diesel has been reduced by the same rate, going from Rs. 77.04 to Rs. 70.82/liter.
The PDL on kerosene remains unchanged at Rs. 20.36/liter, though the overall price has been raised by Rs. 4.09/liter to Rs. 231.14/liter.
The government, in a notification issued earlier this week, had already doubled the Climate Support Levy on both petrol and diesel, raising it from Rs. 2.50 to Rs. 5/liter.