ISLAMABAD: The petrol price, which currently stands at Rs209.86 per litre, is expected to further soar as the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has prepared a summary for an increase in the price of petroleum products and submitted the summary to the Petroleum Division, sources said.

The increase also applies to other petroleum products, including high-speed diesel oil, light diesel, and kerosene oil.

Sources said the new prices would be decided on June 16 after reviewing the summary. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would take the final decision on the price of petrol.

Currently, the government was providing Rs23.3 per litre subsidy on high-speed diesel, Rs9.32 subsidy on petrol, and Rs8.8 on light diesel. The government has already ended the subsidy on kerosene oil and the sales tax and petroleum levy on petroleum products stand at zero.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail while addressing a post-budget press conference in Islamabad on Monday warned that Pakistan would default if the government would not curtail the subsidies, which were announced by the preceding PTI government, on petroleum products.

Miftah had admitted that parliamentarians were not happy with me on the recommendations to increase the petrol price. But, he defended his position by saying that there was no other option than to withdraw such relief assistance.

Amidst such decisions and apprehensions that Pakistan may also default like Sri Lanka, the federal and three provinces have increased the salaries and pensions of government employees. The federal government has also increased other benefits, including a 15% ad-hoc relief on the running basic pay of BPS 2017, conveyance allowance, and transport allowance.