Pakistan's Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar has confirmed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif-led government has marginally reduced the prices of kerosene and light diesel oil (LDO), while kept prices of most of other fuels unchanged for the month of February.

Dar said the government reduced the prices of kerosene oil and LDO by Rs 1.24 Rs 1.02 a litre for February, while kept the prices of petrol, high octane blending component (HOBC) and high speed diesel (HSD) unchanged at their current levels.

Dar made the announcement after his meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday.

The Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had recommended a hike of 71p per litre in the price of petrol, Rs 4.33 in price of HOBC and Rs 1.06 in price of HSD, and a decrease of Rs 1.24 in price of kerosene and Rs 1.02 in price of LDO.

The only hike had been calculated due to depreciation of the vale of the local currency, but the government decided to counterbalance the impact by offering subsidy.

According to Dar, the government would have to bear an additional subsidy of around Rs 1 billion to maintain the current prices of petrol, HOBC and high speed diesel.