Petrol, diesel prices jacked up by Rs35.

ISLAMABAD -- In another unpopular decision, the coalition government jacked up the prices of petrol and high speed diesel (HSD) by a whopping Rs35 per litre, two days ahead of the scheduled announcement of fuel prices in the country.

The fuel price hike comes amid a massive depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar. There were already rumours about a big increase in prices of petroleum products. It is learnt that the retail outlets of petroleum products forced the government to announce the new prices on Sunday.

Usually, fuel prices are adjusted on a fortnightly basis. Change in the prices or unchanged prices are announced on every 15th and the last day of the month, effective 1st and the 16th. However, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced the latest price hike on 29th of January, instead of 31st.

With the increase of Rs35, according to the announcement, the petrol prices jumped from Rs214.80 to Rs249.80, while the HSD prices rose from Rs227.80 to Rs262.80. Similarly, the prices of kerosene oil rose by Rs18, from Rs171.83 to Rs189.83, and light diesel oil from Rs169.00 to Rs187.00.

Earlier, there were rumours about the massive increase in fuel prices in the wake of rupee's free-fall last week. This led to the closure of the retail outlets of petroleum products, hence the government was forced to announce new prices on Sunday, a couple of days before the scheduled time.

The move aimed at resuming the sale of petroleum products at retail outlets. This appeared to be a failure of the government to take action against the petrol pump owners who hoarded the fuel stocks and dropped a petrol bomb on the consumers.

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Currently, the government is charging Rs50 per litre petroleum levy on petrol. It also raised the rate of the levy on the HSD by Rs5 per litre to Rs40 per litre on Sunday. Also, it raised prices of petroleum products, on the one hand, and put an additional burden of Rs7.49 per litre on oil marketing companies (OMCs) on account of freight margin, on the other.

The government allowed the Inland Freight Equalization Margin (IFEM) to the OMCs to transport petrol to different oil depots...