Islamabad: In a massive jolt to citizens, petrol and petroleum product prices in Pakistan have been increased by Rs 30 per litre starting from midnight tonight, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said on Thursday. After the announcement, new prices of petrol will be Rs 179.86 and diesel will be Rs 174.15 per litre. The minister said that prices of petrol, high speed diesel, kerosene oil and light diesel oil have been hike by Rs 30 per litre from Friday.
The gigantic price hike comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz sharif-led Pakistan government failed to reach an agreement with IMF on an economic bailout, largely due to economic instability in the country.
While making the announcement, Ismail pointed out that decision has been taken to ensure the revival of the IMF programme.
He also stressed that after the hike, the country's currency would strengthen and financial markets would witness stability in the days to come.
Pakistan's rupee hit a historic record on Thursday of 202.01 against the US dollar in the interbank market after the failure of talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Pakistan's yet another attempt to bloster its econmy failed after talks with IMF remained inconslusive, with no word on reviving the stalled Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
Power and fuel subsidies has become the main hurdle in talks Pakistan and the IMF which began last week in the Qatari capital. The current government is eager to get the remaining USD 3 billion out of the USD 6 billion package.
In order to garner public support during the no-confidence threat against him, ousted PM Imran Khan had announced a four-month freeze (until June 30) on petrol and electricity prices in February.
Meanwhile, the IMF is not willing to move ahead until the subsidies are taken away and the fuel and energy are revised upward as per market rates.
Several reports stated that Pakistan need financial assistance of somewhere between $9-12 billion till June 2022 to avert further depletion of foreign currency reserves amid rising deficit at USD 13.2 billion in the first nine months and external loan repayment requirements.