Pakistan said today that it was sharply increasing consumer prices for gasoline and diesel, the second time it has raised prices in less than a month as the Iran war sends the cost of oil soaring.
The price of diesel will increase almost 55% to 520.35 rupees per liter ($6.94 per gallon), and gasoline by almost 43% to 458.40 rupees per liter ($6.23 per gallon).
“It was inevitable to raise the prices due to the international market prices going out of control after the U.S.-Iran war,” Pakistan’s petroleum minister, Ali Pervaiz Malik, said in a televised news conference.
People in Pakistan decried what they described as a “petrol bomb,” saying it would worsen a cost-of-living crisis.
Gohar Ali, 52, says he is paid 50,000 rupees ($180) a month as a driver at a public sector medical college in the city of Peshawar, where he has worked for more than 10 years.
“I would spend 500 rupees daily on traveling and would not eat anything else as I could not afford,” he told NBC News. “With the rise in fuel prices my traveling cost goes up to 1,000 rupees a day, meaning I have to spend 25,000 rupees on my travel only.”
The remaining 25,000 rupees, he said, has to cover the cost of feeding his five-member family, as well as paying for school fees, transportation and other expenses.
“President Trump in attacking Iran has caused us numerous financial problems, making it impossible for us to survive,” Ali said. “Today everyone in the college was discussing these sky-high fuel prices as they will have an extremely negative impact on poor people like us.”
Anar Gul, 56, a security guard at a private security company, said life was already miserable due to high inflation and low wages, “but the way the government has increased fuel prices, I am not sure we will survive anymore.”
He said he earns 40,000 rupees a month, and like Ali spends 500 rupees a day on traveling.
“My travel expenses will now be doubled and I have to quit this job, as I will not be able to save any money for my family. It’s bad to tell you, but I take my breakfast at home and then don’t eat anything until I get home as I can’t afford to eat anything at a restaurant,” Gul said.