On March 24, 2024, posts circulating on social media and messaging platforms said a summary was ready for a petrol price increase of Rs105.38 rupees per litre. The notification going viral in this regard was fake.
Summary issued for a Rs105 petrol price hike
The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and has established that it is false.
To arrive at this verdict, the iVerify Pakistan team cross-checked the viral notification with an image manipulation detection and official sources.
Since March 24, 2024, posts were circulating on social media platform X about an alleged approval for a petrol price increase on April 1 and a summary already ready for it.
The caption was the same across the shared posts observed and said: “A possibility of an increase in the petrol price, summary has been prepared. The prime minister proposed to increase the prices of petroleum products. The price of petrol has been increased by Rs105.38 per litre which will be implemented on 01-04-2024”.
The posts also shared an alleged notification of the price increase.
The earliest possible mention of the claim the team could find was a March 24 post by a user, who appeared to be a PTI supporter based on his past posts and profile picture.
The same summary and claim was shared here, here, here and here.
The claim and the notification were also shared on WhatsApp groups
The iVerify Pakistan team sought to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality as evidenced by the many users sharing it, because the issue is one in the direct interest of common people and because petrol price hikes are usually not that drastic in one go.
Upon a closer examination of the alleged notification, the team observed a contradictory nature within it. As per the claim, the price hike was to come into effect from April 1. However, the notification was dated March 15.
Furthermore, its text indicated a price hike slated for March 16, but it subsequently said that the prices of petroleum products mentioned would be in effect from April 1.
Based on this, the team ran the viral notification through image manipulation detection tool Fake Image Detector, which identified the notice as doctored.
Furthermore, the current prices of petroleum products mentioned in the alleged notification also did not align with the new prices announced by the Ministry of Finance on March 15.
Prices of petroleum products are announced by the Ministry of Finance on a fortnightly basis on the 15th and 30th/31st of every month for the next 15 days.
The prices for April 1-15 will be announced tonight on March 31.
The iVerify Pakistan team has determined that the claim of an imminent Rs105 price hike and an associated notification for it are false.
The notification was detected as manipulated while the content of the claim and the notice present contradictions within themselves and with the official price notice on March 15.
Ministry of Finance March 15, 2024, petrol price notification:
https://twitter.com/Financegovpk/status/1768702903043141860
