Just before Ramazan, the government raised petrol prices by Rs5 per litre and high-speed diesel by Rs7.32 per litre for the next fortnight, citing OGRA recommendations and global import costs. The move–announced late on a Sunday–drew an immediate outcry.
PPP spokesperson Shazia Marri decried the hike as an “unjust petrol bomb” on citizens already grappling with cost-of-living pressures. Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Memon echoed this, saying raising fuel costs before Ramazan will further strain the budgets of the poor and the middle class. To the average Pakistani, this increase feels self-inflicted. In recent months, the same administration has touted Ramazan relief packages even as it shifts fiscal burdens onto ordinary consumers. Many struggle to reconcile how cutting subsidies now helps the poor, especially in a context where Pakistan’s petroleum levies yielded about Rs 1.161 trillion in FY 2025 and are projected to rise to Rs 1.47 trillion this fiscal year.
The government, however, defended the increase as a technical response to imported fuel costs and global oil markets. Yet Brent crude has hovered around mid-range levels with only modest volatility. Analysts note that while external price pressures warrant pricing adjustments, they do not fully justify the timing or scale of increases that amplify short-term hardship.
As if to underscore public unease, the Karachi stock market slumped by over 5,149 points on Monday, with foreign investors offloading Pakistani equities amid escalating political noise and policy uncertainty. Financial markets watch inflation expectations as closely as households do, and both have reason for concern.
On the ground, transporters have already passed higher fuel costs onto freight rates, with some carriers announcing 3 per cent fare increases. These shifts ripple through supply chains and ultimately land on consumers’ plates in the rising cost of vegetables, groceries and manufactured goods.
Wheat flour prices have nearly doubled since 2022, bread has become noticeably more expensive, and electricity bills have climbed in tandem. The State Bank warns that inflation may rise again later this year as energy costs impact the broader price index, which is currently around 5.8 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, GDP growth of 3.2 percent barely keeps pace with population growth.
What can be done? Lawmakers and civil society must demand alternatives to burdening the poorest. Draconian levies on petrol and diesel could be phased out or replaced by targeted social support for the vulnerable. The state needs genuine relief (not token gestures) if credibility is to be restored. Pakistan has endured successive shocks in the form of devastating floods and years of fiscal tightening. Another blow now threatens to unravel the tenuous stability many households are still struggling to rebuild.
The question on the collective conscience is not merely whether this fuel hike was justified, but whether policymakers can recalibrate before the burden falls on those least able to bear it. *