Why won’t govt just cut fuel prices already?

June 28, 2026

Here is a number that should make every Pakistani angry: international petrol prices last week were sitting between roughly $90 and $98 a barrel, and diesel between $105 and $109. These are prices we haven’t seen since before regional tensions sent global energy markets into chaos earlier this year. In other words, oil is back to pre-crisis levels. So why are Pakistanis still paying Rs299.50 for a litre of petrol and Rs311.47 for diesel? Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik wants us to believe this is simply prudent economic management — weighing exchange rates, taxes, levies, and “international commitments.” But let’s call this what it actually looks like to ordinary people watching their grocery bills and transport fares climb every month: a government choosing not to give relief it could easily afford to give.

Yes, prices have come down from their terrifying peak — petrol once crossed Rs458 a litre, diesel over Rs520, when the Strait of Hormuz crisis sent shockwaves through energy markets. The government deserves some credit for the roughly Rs155 and Rs200 cuts since then. But “better than the worst point” is not the same as “fair right now.” Global crude has fallen sharply and stayed down. Consumers should be feeling that in their pockets immediately, not waiting for some vague future moment when “financial conditions allow.” This pattern is not new. Time and again, this government has found ways to protect the margins of oil marketing companies and refineries, building in levies and adjustments that quietly absorb the savings before they ever reach the petrol pump. Meanwhile, diesel — the fuel that moves trucks, buses, tractors, and the generators keeping factories running — stays expensive, which means transport costs stay high, which means the price of vegetables, bread, and everything else stays high too. This isn’t an abstract policy debate. It’s inflation, manufactured by delay.

Opposition leaders are right to ask the obvious question: if oil is back to pre-war prices, where is the relief? The minister’s answer — that pricing depends on “national economic considerations” — is the kind of phrase governments use when they’d rather not explain who actually benefits from keeping prices high. Ordinary households are not asking for charity. They’re asking for the government to pass on a windfall that has already arrived on the international market. Every month this relief is delayed is a month commercial interests get prioritized over commuters, farmers, shopkeepers, and families already squeezed by inflation.

The global market has done its part. Now it is the government’s turn. Cut the prices. Pass on the relief.