Federal government late on Thursday announced an Rs 30 per liter hike in the prices of the petroleum prices.
The announcement was made by the federal finance minister Miftah Ismail in a press conference in Islamabad said that the increase in the petroleum products prices had become inevitable.
Mr Ismail said that the government has decided to increase the prices of kerosene, diesel and petrol by Rs 30 per liter. The prices came into effect from midnight on Thursday.
Price of a liter of petrol has jumped up to 179.86 after the hike while diesel surged to 174.15 per liter, light diesel Rs 148.13 per liter and kerosene oil Rs 155.56 per liter.
Mr Ismail said that the government making a loss of Rs 56 per liter.
He said that PTI government when realized it was about to be toppled, they freeze petroleum products prices. “They laid land mines for next government,” he said.
Mr Ismail said that since day one, he has been saying that people would have to shoulder some burden.
He said that government civilian expenses totaled around Rs 55 billion while subsidy cost over Rs 100 billion.
“The subsidy has cost Rs 55 billion loss in 15 days,” he said.
Besides, he said that International Monetary Fund (IMF) was not ready restore Pakistan’s programme until the end of subsidy. However, he said that in case of following the formula Imran Khan’s government formula, the price will surge to Rs 305 per liter.
In addition to this, he said that freezing oil prices was leading to drop in Rupees’ value.
