LAHORE: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s Businessmen Panel has rejected jump in prices of petroleum products for the second fortnight in a row ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, allowing an increase in the prices of petroleum products and LPG at a time when Pakistan’s headline inflation is still in high range of around 10 percent.

FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel Chairman Mian Anjum Nisar observed that the sharp rise in oil prices before Eid is unjustified, declaring it another mini-budget for trade and industry which is already stuck in the inflation quagmire and facing high cost of production.

After the increase, the price of petrol has shoot up from the existing price of Rs112.69 per litre to Rs118.09. The price of HSD has gone up from the current Rs113.99 per litre to 116.53. Similarly, the price of kerosene has reached Rs87.17 per litre from the existing Rs85.75 and the LDO has gone up from the existing Rs83.40 per litre to Rs84.67.

FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel Chairman Mian Anjum Nisar said that oil prices and inflation are closely connected in a cause-and-effect relationship. As fuel rates move up, inflation, which is the measure of general price trends throughout the economy, follows in the same direction upward. On the other hand, if the rates of fuel fall, inflationary pressures start to drop.

At the start of this month for the first half of July, the government had also increased petrol prices by Rs2 per litre, diesel Rs1.44 per litre, kerosene by Rs3.86 per litre and that of LDO by Rs3.72 per litre.