ISLAMABAD – The prices of petroleum products in Pakistan are likely to beincreased Rs12 per litre from February 1.

According to the sources, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) hassent a summary of the prices of petroleum products in which it has proposedan increase of Rs12 per litre for petrol and Rs10 per litre for diesel, saysources in the petroleum division.

The final decision would be taken by the Ministry of Finance headed by DrAbdul Hafeez Shaikh after consultation with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Ogra prepared its summary on the basis of a levy of Rs30 per litre.Currently, the levy on petrol is Rs21.56 per litre and Rs23.9 per litre ondiesel.

The government can reduce the proposed increase to a very low level by notincreasing the levy or it can maintain the current prices of petroleumproducts with a slight reduction in the levy.

Last month, the government had increased the prices of petroleum productstwice after every 15 days.

On January 1, the price of petrol went up by Rs 2.31 and diesel by Rs1.80,while on January 15, the government again increased the price of petroleumproducts with petrol becoming Rs3.20 more expensive per litre and dieselRs2.95 more expensive per litre.