Petrol-to-getThe federal government has increased the price of petrol by Rs1.35 per litre for the next fortnight, ending on November 15. According to a notification issued by the Finance Division, the new price of petrol will be Rs248.38 per litre, up from Rs247.03 during the last fortnight. “The Oil [and] Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has worked out the consumer prices of petroleum products, based on the price variation in the international market,” read a statement released by the Finance Division late Thursday. Similarly, the price of high-speed diesel (HSD) was increased from Rs251.29 to Rs255.14 per litre – an increase of Rs3.85 per litre. Meanwhile, prices of other petroleum products have been reduced. The new price of kerosene will be Rs161.54, down by Rs1.48 from Rs163.02 per litre. Likewise, the price of light-diesel oil has been reduced by Rs2.61 from Rs150.12 to Rs147.51 per litre. Separately, the International Monetary Fund has lowered its inflation forecast for Pakistan for the current year by 3.2% points to 9.5%, the country’s finance minister said on Thursday. The IMF’s revised projection bring it closer to Pakistan’s own projections, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said. He said there was no need to introduce a mid-year budget, responding to local media reports saying the government needed to revise its budget to stay on track with an ongoing $7 billion, 37-month program with the IMF. Aurangzeb said the IMF also revised down its import projections for Pakistan in the current fiscal year, which ends in June 2025. Moreover, the finance ministry has rejected any possibility of a budget adjustment midway through the fiscal year, asserting that the current economic situation reflects the effectiveness of financial policies and lays the groundwork for financial stability.