Local petroleum and CNG prices witness an enormous surge – Alfalah Securities Limited

Karachi: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has increased the prices of local POL products where Petrol and diesel prices have been hiked by 8.3% and 4.5% respectively. According to the Alfalah Securities Limited, notification, the price of petrol has been raised by PkR 8.02 per litre to PkR 105.08, diesel by PkR 4.70 per litre to PkR 108.10, HOBC by PkR 8.94 per litre to PkR 135.81, kerosene oil has jumped by PkR 5.29 per litre to PkR 101.69 while LDO has hiked by PkR 5.45 per litre to PkR 98.74.

The Petroleum Ministry has also made a significant increase in the prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) by PkR 9.93-11.58 per kg on account of the imposition of 20% Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) and bringing it at par with 55% of petrol prices. Prices of CNG in the Southern and Central Punjab region (including Karachi and Lahore) have been raised by PkR 9.93 per kg after which the new CNG prices have been fixed at PkR 80.89 per kg. While, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Potohar and Balochistan region (including Islamabad and Peshawar) the prices of CNG have been fixed at PkR 88.70 per kg after a massive hike of PkR 11.59 per kg. The surge in petroleum and CNG prices would lead to heating up inflation across the board as the cost of production and transport would inflate due to higher POL and CNG prices. Consequently, it would add to the miseries of the poverty ridden masses and deteriorate economic situation while also making local products uncompetitive in the export market.