Pakistanis' joy from hearing the news of major cut in petrol price was dashed within hours as the controversy surrounding reduction in petrol price surfaced after midnight.
Two different POL prices were announced by government offices — first of a massive cut by the Prime Minister House and then a marginal decrease by the Ministry of Finance. Although, the PMO seconded the price announced by the finance ministry afterwards.
As per the prices announced by the PMO, the price of petrol was cut down by Rs15.4 a litre and diesel by Rs7.9 a litre.
However, a belated notification issued by the Ministry of Finance apprised that the new price of petrol has come down by Rs4.74 a litre to Rs268.36 from Rs273.10 a litre and price of high-speed diesel has also been slashed by Rs3.86 a litre to Rs270.22 a litre from its previous price of Rs274.08 a litre. The new price is effective from June 1 (today).
As per the notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, the federal government reduced the price of petrol in its third consecutive fortnightly review in light of a drop in the rate of global oil prices.
"The prices of petroleum products have seen a decreasing trend in the international market during the last fortnight,” stated a notification from the finance ministry.
"The Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has worked out the consumer prices, based on the price variations in the international market."
What caused the confusion?
Later, the PMO admitted its mistake that it had issued the previous figures presenting them as new price which stated that petrol and diesel prices were cut by Rs15.4 and Rs7.9 respectively.
In the last review on May 15, the federal government had approved a massive cut of Rs15.39 per litre in the petrol price and the price of diesel was reduced by Rs7.88 per litre.
The prices of petroleum products are revised every 15 days in Pakistan adjusting them to the trend of global oil prices and the rupee’s exchange rate to the dollar. The Pakistani rupee has held steady recently.
About 85% of Pakistan's oil needs are imported, and the country has been struggling with a balance of payments problem and skyrocketing inflation, which was recorded at 17.3% year-on-year in April.
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