A litre of petrol or diesel in Pakistan costs a fortune. Details here

Pakistan's government has dropped a petrol bomb on inflation-hit people in the country to comply with the conditions laid out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avail of a loan. Petrol in the country has become significantly costlier by 22.20 Pakistani rupees, taking the retail price to 272 Pakistani rupees for a litre, stated a PTI report. Not only petrol but diesel too has become substantially expensive in the country.

Diesel in Pakistan now is costlier by 17.20 Pakistani rupees per litre for high-speed diesel (HSD), while light diesel oil (LDO) has become costlier by 9.68 Pakistani rupees a litre. With this price hike, the HSD now costs 280 Pakistani rupees per litre in the country, while LDO costs 196.68 Pakistani rupees per litre, the report claims. The price hike for petrol and diesel, along with various other fuel types, was announced on Wednesday by the country's Finance Ministry in order to become eligible for the massive loan tranche of $7 billion the Pakistan government is aiming to avail from the IMF. The report claims that with these taxes, the Pakistani government is aiming to extract 170 billion Pakistani rupees from the people there. The government claimed that this surge has taken place due to the Pakistani rupee's devaluation against the dollar.

The country has been going through a severe financial crisis for quite some time, which has resulted in steeply high prices for motor fuels. Several petrol pumps across the country were shut a few days back amid a severe fuel shortage. CNG stations too are not able to dispense fuel to feed the transport due to the unavailability in the winter season. Amidst that, the steep price hike announced for petrol and diesel would worsen the situation.