The federal government has announced a massive hike in petroleum prices, increasing Rs10.49 per litre on petrol and Rs12.44 per litre on high speed diesel, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance on Saturday.

After the increase in prices, per litre price of petrol is Rs137.79 per litre and per litre price of HSD is Rs134.48.

The government has also increased price of kerosene by Rs10.95 per litre and light diesel oil (LDO) by Rs8.84 per litre. The new prices of kerosene oil and light diesel oil are Rs110.26 and Rs108.35 per litre respectively.

The new prices of petroleum products will be effective from October 16 (today).

During the span of one month, this is third time the government has increased prices of petroleum products.

On September 16, the government raised the prices of petrol by Rs5 per litre and HSD by Rs5.01 per litre to pass on impact of higher international market and currency depreciation.

At that time the prices of kerosene and LDO were increased by Rs5.46 and Rs5.92 per litre, respectively.

In the beginning of October, another hike in the prices of petroleum products were announced, increasing the price of petrol by Rs4, HSD Rs2, kerosene Rs7.05 and LDO Rs8.82.

In the notification issued on Saturday, citing the global rise in oil prices, the government claimed it has provided "maximum relief to customers".

The oil prices have been increased $85 per barrel highest since October 2018 therefore, "in the current scenario the government has absorbed the pressure and provided maximum relief to the customers by keeping petroleum levy and sales tax to minimum", according to the notification.