Ishaq Dar, the finance minister, said on Sunday that the price of petroleum goods would remain the same for the ensuing 15 days.
“We have decided to maintain the existing prices of petroleum products from Jan 16 to 31,” Ishaq Dar said as he announced the fortnightly revision of prices.
He declared that the cost of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene per liter will each continue at Rs. 214.80, Rs. 227.80, and Rs. 171.83 accordingly.
“The price of light diesel is currently Rs. 169 per liter which will also remain the same till January 31,” he added.
The pricing has remained the same for the second time in a row. The finance minister had earlier on December 31 announced no adjustments to the prices in a statement that was similar.
Since approximately four months ago, the government has not raised the cost of petroleum products.
On September 21st, the last price increase took place. Diesel stayed at the same price even then.
The announcement was made when the economic crisis, which is being exacerbated by the government’s precarious fiscal position, was getting worse.
There were anticipations that prices would rise because the government’s revenue collection last month fell short of its goal.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to press reports, has been pushing for stricter measures to make up the tax shortfall, like raising the petroleum development fee and enacting a general sales tax.
As demand for diesel, gasoline, and furnace oil remained weak with the economic recession, the consumption of oil also saw a year-over-year decline of 11 percent in December and 19 percent in 1HFY23.
Oil sales fell from 1.507 million tons in December 2021 to 1.34 million tons in December 2022.
Since the lockdown was implemented in February 2020 to stop the coronavirus from spreading, it was the lowest monthly sales number ever.
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