Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Friday that petrol prices would remain unchanged for the next fortnight between July 1 and July 15.

However, he added that the price of diesel would be raised by Rs7.5 to reach Rs260.5.

Dar said that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority had recommended an increase in prices of both petrol and diesel. However, the government had opted not to increase the price of petrol and had the minimum possible increase in the price of diesel.

He also ‘apologised’ before announcing the increase in the price of diesel and said that the increase was attributed to international prices.

The new price will apply from midnight of July 1 and will be reviewed two weeks later.

Two weeks ago, Ishaq Dar had announced that the prices of petrol and diesel would remain unchanged.

The latest update comes a few hours after Pakistan finally signed a deal with the International Monetary Fund. Dar had announced that the fuel levy cap had been raised from Rs50 to Rs60 but would remain around Rs55 over the next fiscal year.