By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Friday that Pakistan will slash the price of high-speed diesel by Rs135 a liter and petrol by Rs12 a liter, passing on relief from falling global oil prices to consumers and farmers as a fragile Middle East ceasefire takes hold.
The reductions take effect at midnight Saturday, bringing diesel to Rs385 a liter from Rs520 and petrol to Rs366 a liter from Rs378, Sharif said in a nationally televised address. The move comes days after the government had raised diesel by Rs184.49 a liter to Rs520.35 and petrol by Rs137.24 a liter to Rs458.41, only to roll back part of the petrol increase by cutting the petroleum levy Rs80 within 24 hours.
Sharif framed the price cuts against a backdrop of intense diplomatic maneuvering. Speaking at what he called a “historic occasion” when “there is talk of peace instead of war in the Gulf,” he said Iran and the United States — which had been “facing each other in a war” — had accepted his proposal for a two-week ceasefire and agreed to hold talks in Islamabad. “Pakistan hosting these talks was not just a proud moment for Pakistan but for the entire Muslim world,” he said.
He singled out Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar for “sincerely working day and night” and gave special credit to Field Marshal Asim Munir, saying the army chief and his team had played a “key and historic role in dousing the flames of war.” History, Sharif added, “will remember the services of Field Marshal Asim Munir in golden words.”
The premier cautioned that the temporary ceasefire was only the first step. A “more difficult stage” of negotiating a long-term truce and resolving underlying issues lay ahead, he said, calling it a “make or break” moment. He appealed to Pakistanis to pray for the success of the Islamabad talks, which he said would begin the following day with the leadership of both countries present.
The fuel-price relief follows weeks of heavy government spending to shield consumers from the oil shock triggered by the Middle East conflict. Global benchmark Brent crude futures rose 40 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $96.32 a barrel at 11:18 a.m. ET Friday, while West Texas Intermediate climbed 84 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $98.71. Even so, the contracts were on track for their biggest weekly drop since last June as the ceasefire held.
Sharif said he had been advised to withhold some of the benefit from lower international oil prices to help recover Rs129 billion the government spent cushioning earlier price shocks. “I immediately rejected that recommendation,” he said. Having watched Pakistanis bear the burden of soaring prices “with patience and courage,” he added, it was now his “moral and political responsibility” to pass on the full relief.
Fiscal discipline and the use of government resources also helped make the cuts possible, he said. The timing is particularly important as wheat harvesting gets under way. Lower diesel costs will reduce input expenses for farmers, preventing both wasted effort in the fields and higher food prices for ordinary Pakistanis, Sharif explained.
The government will not discontinue the targeted subsidy packages introduced during the fuel crisis, he said. Prices of superior kerosene oil and light diesel oil were left unchanged, according to a statement posted on X by Dar.
Last month the government lifted prices by Rs55 a liter, citing rising international rates. On April 2 it imposed even steeper hikes amid the US-Iran tensions. Sharif’s decision to absorb much of the impact through subsidies — and now to pass on global relief in full — underscores the political and economic stakes in a country where fuel costs feed directly into transport fares, agricultural production and consumer inflation. In his address, the prime minister repeated his earlier pledge: as soon as international fuel prices declined, the benefit would flow immediately to the public. With the ceasefire opening that window, he acted.
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