The federal government on Thursday increased petroleum prices for the third consecutive day, raising the price of petrol by Rs4.40 per litre and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs3.62 per litre under the country’s new daily fuel pricing mechanism.

According to the latest notification, the price of petrol has been increased from Rs327.12 to Rs331.52 per litre, while high-speed diesel has risen from Rs375.04 to Rs378.66 per litre. The revised prices have taken effect immediately.

The latest increase follows back-to-back hikes announced over the previous two days.

On Wednesday, the government raised petrol by Rs6.39 per litre and diesel by Rs7.83 per litre after increasing petrol by Rs4.93 and diesel by Rs7.15 a day earlier.

With the latest revision, petrol has become Rs17.71 per litre more expensive over the past three days, while the price of high-speed diesel has increased by Rs28.54 per litre during the past four days.

The government last week replaced the previous weekly petroleum pricing system with a daily pricing mechanism, authorising the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to determine ex-depot petrol and diesel prices based on a rolling seven-day average of international oil prices.

The new system is intended to allow quicker adjustments to fluctuations in global energy markets, the official said.

The repeated increases are expected to add further inflationary pressure by raising transportation and logistics costs.

High-speed diesel is widely used in the freight, agriculture and industrial sectors, while higher petrol prices directly affect private motorists and commuters across the country.