ISLAMABAD : Sept 30 : The caretaker government gave partial relief to the commuters by cutting down the petroleum product prices for the next fortnight . At mid -night on Saturday, the government announced Rs 8 per litre reduction in the petrol prices.
The new petrol price has been fixed at Rs 323.38 per liter . The price of High Speed Diesel (HSD) has been cut by Rs 11 per liter . Its new price has been fixed at Rs 318.18 per liter . The new prices of petroleum products will remain effective for the next 15 days . The government will review petroleum product prices on October 15. The Finance ministry issued a formal notification on Saturday night .
In its statement , the Finance ministry said the relief in the petroleum product prices has become possible due to appreciation of the rupee against US dollar. The rupee has gained around 6.5 % value against US dollar in around one and half months . In the last one and half months, the caretaker government had made three upward revisions in the prices of petroleum products on the pretext of surge in their prices in the international market. These three upward revisions in the rates of petroleum products have invited severe criticism from the public at large .
Seeing the reaction from the public the government decided to grant partial relief in the prices of the petroleum products . Inflation hit people of Pakistan were expecting some reasonable reduction in the rates of the petroleum products .