The government has raised the price of petrol by Rs5.77 a litre to Rs331.20 and high-speed diesel by Rs6.47 to about Rs390.42, effective August 18 (Express Tribune; Aaj; Geo News).
It is the sharpest single revision of the month and the third petrol increase in August. The notification was issued by the Petroleum Division on August 17 under the daily pricing mechanism, and applies for one day.
Two things make the timing awkward for the government.
The first is the undertaking given to goods transporters on Sunday. When the All Pakistan Goods Transport Alliance suspended its nine-day strike for 40 days, its president said Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan had assured them that petroleum prices would be revised every 15 days or monthly rather than daily — the demand that had kept container trucks off the road after smaller carriers settled. That assurance was never notified, and Tuesday’s revision is a daily one.
The second is Jamaat-e-Islami, which is holding sit-ins outside Governor Houses in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta for a third day, demanding petrol at Rs225 a litre and the abolition of the petroleum levy. The price has instead moved almost Rs6 in the opposite direction.
The levy itself rose again last week, with the diesel levy up another rupee to Rs77.28 a litre while petrol was held at Rs80 — meaning roughly a quarter of the pump price of petrol is levy before any other tax.
The underlying driver is real enough. Brent has climbed past $91 after Iran signalled a “fully offensive” military posture and Washington ruled out extending the ceasefire, with only five vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and none on Sunday. The mechanism averages the previous seven days, so this week’s crude moves reach the pump with a lag — and the lag is now arriving.
Diesel is the rate that matters most for headline inflation, pricing freight, farm machinery and inter-city transport. Short-term inflation was already running at 9.11 per cent, with diesel 34 per cent dearer than a year ago before this increase.
