ISLAMABAD: Despite Pakistan’s significant role in global and regional diplomacy, citizens have yet to see prices of utilities and essential items return to pre‑war levels of February 28. Instead, the government is now considering a controversial new mechanism to determine fuel prices on a daily basis, sparking backlash from the Petroleum Pumps Association..
The association has categorically rejected the proposal, warning that even the weekly pricing system has already destabilized stock management, financial planning, and operational stability. “Determining prices of petroleum products on a daily basis is unacceptable,” the association said in a statement, adding that pump owners were not taken into confidence before the decision.
Under the proposed system, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) would be solely responsible for revising the prices of petrol, high‑speed diesel, light diesel oil, and kerosene every night, with new rates effective from midnight. The Ministry of Petroleum has already directed OGRA to publish the plate rate daily, reducing the government’s role in final determination.
The Petroleum Price Reform Committee, chaired by Petroleum Minister Ali Pervez Malik, has reviewed the proposal and will submit recommendations to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Officials argue that daily pricing would align domestic rates more closely with international fluctuations, but economic experts caution that the current volatility in the Strait of Hormuz makes such a system impractical.
“Fuel pricing involves multiple factors including exchange rate movements and levies. It is difficult for the government to cater to these variables every day without creating further instability,” one analyst noted.
For ordinary Pakistanis, however, the debate underscores a deeper frustration: while leaders tout their global outreach, households continue to grapple with fuel prices far above pre‑war levels, with no relief in sight.
