The Pakistan government announced on Friday a reduction of Rs22 per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the decision was taken to provide relief to the public.
With the Rs22-per-litre reduction, the new price of petrol is Rs381.78 per litre and high-speed diesel (HSD) will be sold at Rs380.78 per litre.
“The Prime Minister had promised the nation that relief would be provided to the public as soon as there was room to do so,” the PMO said. “That promise has been fulfilled exactly as stated.”
Last week the government had lowered the petrol price by Rs6 per litre to Rs403.78 and reduced the price of diesel by Rs6.80 per litre to Rs402.78.
“Providing relief to the public is among my top priorities,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was quoted as saying in the PMO statement.
“Even under extremely difficult circumstances, the federal government continued providing relief and offered fuel subsidies for users of public and goods transport, motorcycles, and rickshaws.
At a time when people in other countries of the region were standing in queues to obtain petrol, timely actions by the Prime Minister ensured that petrol and diesel remained available to the public in Pakistan.
During the worst global oil crisis, despite rising international oil prices, the Prime Minister prevented increases in fuel prices by providing subsidies of more than Rs130, thereby continuing to give relief to the public,” the PMO added.