Minister says govt not giving preference to any sector after petrol, diesel prices kept unchanged

Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik on Saturday dismissed the notion that the government was “giving preference” to one sector or imposing an undue burden on another after it kept petrol and diesel prices unchanged “till further orders”. On Friday night, the government on Friday kept petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) prices unchanged at Rs299.50 per litre and Rs311.47 per litre, respectively. In a post on the social media platform X, the petroleum minister shared a table of international oil prices over the past week. According to the number he shared, petrol prices ranged between $90.36 and $98.35 per barrel during June 22-26, while HSD traded between $104.79 and $109.09 per barrel. “The government is neither giving preference to any sector nor imposing any undue burden on the other,” he said. “The government is committed, within the scope of its international obligations, to pass on any benefit to the consumers,” he added. Highlighting the government’s record on fuel prices, Malik said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had so far reduced the price of diesel and petrol by Rs200 per litre and Rs155 per litre, respectively. The minister’s statement comes after criticism was directed at the government for not reducing the prices of petroleum products. “Despite international oil prices at the pre-war level, in Pakistan petrol price still remains Rs 300 per litre. Why not pass the benefit to people?” asked former Sindh governor Mohammad Zubair. PTI’s Haleem Adil Sheikh said that fuel prices had “fallen across much of the world”. “Yet Pakistan’s corrupt government has once again refused to pass any relief on to the public. After previously hiking fuel prices by Rs137/litre on stock purchased at much lower rates — handing massive windfall profits to oil marketing companies and petrol pumps—it has repeated the same act. The people pay, while the corrupt protect vested interests,” he said. “Oil companies, oil tanker owners, big dealers have won. The public has lost,” said jou