ISLAMABAD - The government yesterday announced a decrease of up to Rs 2.32 per litre in the prices of POL products for the last fortnight of the current month. “The Prime Minister has approved a reduction in petrol prices by Rs 1.79 and the price of diesel by Rs 2.32 applicable from tomorrow (Friday),” tweeted by Finance Minister Hammad Azhar. The price of Kerosene Oil has been reduced by Rs 2.06 per litre and Light Diesel Oil by Rs 2.21 per litre.

“This follows the reduction in prices of Rs 1.55 for petrol and Rs 3 for diesel announced by the government on 1st April” Hammad Azhar added.

Following the Finance Minister’s tweet, the Finance Division in a statement said that in order to provide relief to the consumers during the holy month of Ramazan, the government has decided to reduce the prices of the petroleum products.

Earlier, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority had recommended the government to reduce the price of High Speed Diesel(HSD) by Rs 2.32 per litre(2.1 percent), Petrol by Rs 1.79 per litre(1.6 percent), Superior Kerosene Oil (SKO) by Rs 4.13 per litre(5 percent) and Light Diesel Oil by Rs 4.42 per litre(5.5 percent) for the last fortnight of April.

For High Speed Diesel and Petrol the government has approved the Ogra’s recommended decrease in full, while for SKO and LDO 50 percent of the recommended decrease was passed on to the consumers.

After the decrease of  Rs 1.79 per litre the price of petrol will come down to Rs 108.56 Per litre from the existing Rs 110.35, High Speed Diesel (HSD) after the reduction of Rs 2.32 per litre will decrease to Rs 110.76 per litre from the existing  Rs 113.08 per litre. After the reduction of Rs 2.06 the price of Kerosene Oil(SKO) will come down to Rs 80 per litre from Rs 82.06 per litre. The price of Light Diesel Oil (LDO) after the decrease of Rs 2.21 per litre will come down Rs 77.65 per litre from the existing Rs 79.86 per litre.

It is worth to mention here that besides charging 17 percent General Sales Tax on the petroleum products, the government also charging petroleum levy on the petroleum products. The current notified Petroleum Levy is Rs 15.29 per litre of HSD, Rs 11.23 on per litre petrol, Rs 1.74 on Superior Kerosene Oil and Rs 1.38 per litre on Light Diesel Oil (LDO). The new prices will be effective from tonight (16th April 2021).