The federal government is set to announce the prices of petroleum products tonight for the next fortnight from June 16-30, 2024.
By June 14, media reports were predicting another major decline in petrol price, stating a drop in oil prices in the international market and appreciation of Pakistani Rupee (PKR) against the US Dollar (USD) in the interbank market as the reasons.
Reports said that the federal government would likely be reducing the price of petrol by another Rs 9 per litre.
However, the price of Brent Crude Oil in the international market surged by over US$ 4 per barrel in the first half of June 2024. It rose to around US$ 82.50 per barrel by Friday afternoon from US$ 78.36 recorded on June 3.
Likewise, the PKR witnessed a depreciation of 0.05 percent against the USD in the interbank market from June 3-14, 2024. The rupee value was 278.36 as per US dollar on June 3 and it stood at 278.51 when the Trading Session ended in the Interbank Market on June 14.
It is important to note that the government will, in fact, announce the new petrol price at midnight on June 15 for the next 15 days, taking into account the global oil market movements and the exchange rate.
In the budgetary proposal for the next Fiscal Year 2024-25, the government announced to raise the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) to Rs 80 per litre from current Rs 60 gradually. It, however, will be effective once the Federal Budget 2024-25 gets passed by the National Assembly and new Financial Year begins on July 1.
Last time, the government reduced the petrol price by Rs 4.74 per litre and high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs 3.86 per litre.
