Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Thursday said that the government decided to keep the existing prices of petroleum products remain unchanged for the next 15 days to facilitate the masses in the country. The Minister in a press talk at PTV said Petrol would be available at Rs262 per litre, the price of high-speed diesel is Rs253, while the light diesel oil is Rs147.68, however, prices of kerosene oil have also been kept unchanged at Rs.164.07. Rejecting the media reports regarding fuel prices, Dar said the decision to maintain the fuel prices had been taken in view of international rates. The finance minister said international crude oil and gas prices had witnessed slight increase in the past few days. He said the government had cumulatively decreased the diesel and petrol prices by Rs35 and Rs20 in the last 30 days. However, the price of light diesel oil has been increased by Rs2.52 and will be Rs150.20 per litre from tomorrow. The same prices will remain in effect till June 30, he added. During the last fortnightly review on May 31, The federal government reduced the prices of petroleum products by up to Rs8 per litre. The price of petrol was reduced to Rs262 per litre after a cut of Rs8 while diesel came down to Rs253 per litre after a reduction of by Rs5. The government’s announcement comes as it faces increased pressure due to rising petrol prices – which had reached a record of Rs282 per litre earlier this year – and inflation, which is currently the highest in the region. The recent decline in global oil prices has provided some relief, but the government is still facing difficulty in keeping prices down as the rupee depreciates. Petrol is used in motorbikes and small cars and it is also an alternate to compressed natural gas (CNG). The HSD is widely used in agriculture and transport sectors and the LDO is used in industry. The reduction in the HSD price will have healthy impact on farmers and may lead to cut in the cost of transportation of goods. The kerosene oil is used in remote areas of Pakistan, especially the northern part of the country where the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is not available for cooking purpose. The army is also a key user of kerosene oil in northern part of the country.