Pakistan switches to daily fuel pricing, and the common man discovers a thrilling new morning ritual: waking up, opening a website, and quietly sobbing

By Dr Asif Khurshid

Since decades, the Pakistanis enjoyed a certain rhythm to his suffering. Petrol prices change every fifteen days, like clockwork, giving the common man a full fortnight to emotionally prepare, complain on social media, and blame Sitting and past governments before the next change in petrol price change. Those days of leisurely misery are over.

As of this month, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) will calculate the price of petrol and diesel every single night, based on a seven-day average of international prices, with new rates taking effect at midnight and published on OGRA’s website. In other words: your fuel now updates more frequently than your favourite TV serial, and with roughly the same amount of emotional damage per episode.

The petroleum minister called the decision “painful but necessary.” The common man agrees on exactly one of those two words.

This step made every Pakistani become Senior Petroleum Market Analyst, unpaid overnight. Previously Pakistanis check the weather before leaving home, he/she now checks the OGRA website with the trembling reverence of someone opening exam results. Uncle-jee at the chai dhaba, who previously specialised in cricket selections and the price of tomatoes, has expanded his portfolio. He now opens conversations with, “Beta, Brent crude touched $140 a barrel — did you fill your tank last night or are you a fool?”

Filling your tank has become a matter of timing, like the stock market, except the stock is your ability to get to work, and the market never, ever goes down. Motorcyclists now hover near petrol pumps at 11:55 PM like Cinderella watching the clock, except at the stroke of midnight it is not the carriage that turns into a pumpkin — it is their salary.

The government has decided prices should revise on daily basis. The petrol, however, did not get the memo/directive. Dealers have politely pointed out that fuel transported from Karachi takes at least three days to reach many parts of the country.

So somewhere on the motorway right now is a tanker full of Tuesday’s petrol, arriving on Friday, to be sold at Saturday’s price, calculated using last week’s average. The petrol is time-travelling. Einstein would have loved it. Your wallet does not.

Pump owners, meanwhile, are being asked to update their price boards every day. Picture the poor man at the neighbourhood filling station, chalk in hand, standing before the price board at dawn like a schoolteacher who has been assigned a new syllabus every twenty-four hours. He has warned of protests. Frankly, the chalk industry may be the only clear winner.

Consider the everyday Pakistani:

The ride-hailing captain, who now accepts your booking, checks the fare, checks the petrol rate, recalculates his will to live, and cancels.

The office worker, who has begun budgeting his commute by the day. “I can afford to go to work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Tuesday and Thursday I will attend meetings spiritually.”

The housewife, who sends her husband to the market and now receives not one but a daily fluctuating estimate of household expenses, delivered with the solemnity of an IMF briefing.

The student, who has discovered that “the petrol went up” is a far more sophisticated excuse for being late than “the alarm didn’t ring,” and infinitely harder to disprove.

And the economist on television, who is, for once in his life, genuinely delighted. He gets to say “deregulation,” “transparency,” and “market-driven mechanism” on repeat, while the audience nods gravely and understands none of it, which is the natural state of all economic discourse.

Supporters argue that daily pricing brings Pakistan in line with a handful of countries where fuel prices move every day, passes on price drops faster instead of the government sitting on them, and shows citizens exactly which levies and taxes are inflating the number so they can understand precisely why they are inevitably being charged more. Transparency, in short. The Oil Companies Advisory Council even welcomed it, calling it a step toward a competitive market — while gently noting that “true deregulation” is a bit more complicated than posting a new number online each morning.

They are correct. It is more complicated. In the meantime, the petroleum levy, the Climate Support Levy, and customs duties remain firmly bolted onto the price, meaning “market forces” in Pakistan will operate exactly as freely as a man forced to run a marathon while carrying three relatives on his back.

So here we are. A nation that once braced for bad news every fortnight now braces for it every twenty-four hours — more transparent, more modern, and more exhausting.

There is talk that consumers will one day choose between petrol pumps offering different prices, like a competitive market. A beautiful dream. Until then, the common man will continue his new national sport: waking up, checking OGRA, and deciding whether today is a “fill the tank” day or a “walk and build character” day.

Roti, kapra, makaan — the three basic needs. To which the citizen has quietly added a

fourth, updated daily, subject to change at midnight, non-refundable.

Also Read: Pakistan’s Tobacco Dilemma: Balancing Farmers’ Livelihoods, Industry Interests and State Regulation