The government has decided to let the prices of petroleum products remain unchanged for the next two weeks.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the decision to keep the prices unchanged despite the hike in international market is a New Year gift to the masses and now the new prices will be announced fortnightly.
However, he revealed that the prices of kerosene oil and light diesel will not change for the whole month of January.
The finance minister also said the government will have to bear a burden of around Rs4 billion after the decision of not increasing the petroleum prices.
While announcing the government’s policy on petroleum products prices for January, 2015, Dar said Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources and Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had recommended increase from the beginning of the New Year.
The recommended increase was: 0.5% in MS 92 RON Petrol, 5.2% in HSD,16% in Kerosene Oil and 8% in LDO with effect from 1stJanuary 2017 which work out to be Rs. 0.31 /Litre in MS 92 RON Petrol, Rs3.94/Litre in HSD, Rs3.48/Litre in LDO and Rs6.93/Litre in Kerosene Oil.
A statement by the finance ministry said that in order to maintain stability since April 2016, prices have been maintained despite fluctuation in international market and the government has been absorbing the negative financial impact.
Prices of petroleum products to go up by around Rs7
A day earlier, officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources had revealed that prices of petroleum products could be increased by up to Rs6.93 per litre for January 2017 due to the global rise in crude oil prices.
The ministry on Thursday received a summary from Ogra that recommended an upward revision in oil prices. Prices of all petroleum products, except for kerosene oil, are deregulated and Ogra only monitors them.
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