ISLAMABAD: Petroleum prices in Pakistan have been increased on Wednesday which are effective from Thursday March 16, 2023.
A statement issued by the Finance Division, stated that in the last fortnight, Platts Singapore prices registered an increase.
This along with a depreciation of Pakistani Rupee (PKR) has resulted in an increase of petroleum products in Pakistan.
READ MORE: Petroleum prices in Pakistan may go up from March 16
Accordingly, the price of MS (Petrol) has increased by Rs5 per liter and price of High Speed Diesel (HSD) has increased by Rs13 per liter.
The increase in price of kerosene oil has been kept at Rs2.56 by reducing government dues on it. Similarly, price of light diesel oil has been kept constant by adjusting government dues as well.
READ MORE: Rupee devaluation main culprit behind surge in petroleum prices
The new prices will be effective from Marcy 16, 2023 as follow:
| Product | Existing prices w.e.f March 01, 2023 | New Prices w.e.f. March 16, 2023 | increase |
| MS (Petrol) | 267.00 | 272.00 | +5.00 |
| HSD | 280.00 | 293.00 | +13 |
| Kerosene | 187.73 | 190.29 | +2.56 |
| Light Diesel Oil | 184.68 | 184.68 | Nil |
Earlier, experts had predicted that petroleum prices in Pakistan would go up from March 16, 2023 owing for significant depreciation in local currency.
The country is scheduled to announce the petroleum prices on March 15, 2023 for next fortnight (March 16 – 31).
The continuous decline in rupee value has increased the possibility of further hike in petroleum prices for the next fortnight.
READ MORE: Pakistan ready to announce new petroleum prices on March 15
The local currency has recorded significant decline during the past one year. Weakness in rupee value against the dollar made the local currency worst currency in the region. The rupee crashed by 57 per cent during past one year to PKR 280.77 to the dollar on March 10, 2023 when compared with PKR 178.63 on March 10, 2022 in the interbank foreign exchange market.
On the other hand the prices of crude oil in international market recorded sharp decline. The prices of benchmark Brent crude oil recorded around 30 per cent decline during one year despite Russia-Ukraine War. Brent crude oil prices were $115 per barrel during last March 2022 and it fell to $83 in the current month of March 2023.
In contrast, the domestic prices of petrol and high speed diesel (HSD) recorded massive increase of 78 per cent and 94 per cent, respectively on Year on Year (YoY) basis by week ended March 09, 2023.
The comparison of global and domestic fuel prices showed the local market should have lower prices and people of the country would have been provided relief.
However, the ill-conceived policies of the government for making a successful IMF deal resulted in disaster for the country. The IMF deal cost the nation with massive depreciation of the local currency and immense increase in energy prices, which made the life miserable.
READ MORE: High petroleum prices bring down oil sales by 21 pc
Since Pakistan is net importer of petroleum products. The sharp rise in dollar value adversely affected the import bill in terms of rupee, which subsequently passed on to end consumers.
The import bill of petroleum group recorded a decline of 9.27 per cent to $10.61 billion during first eight months (July – January) 2022-2023 as compared with $11.69 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
The massive depreciation in rupee value, the import bill in rupee terms recorded an increase of 19.55 per cent to PKR 2.38 trillion during the period under review as compared with PKR 1.99 trillion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
