The government has decided to slash the prices of petroleum products.

Commerce and Supplies Minister Dilendra Prasad Badu said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon that the government has reduced prices of the petroleum products.

The price of petrol has been reduced by Rs20 per litre. Similarly, the price of diesel has been reduced by Rs29 per litre.

As per the new decision, petrol now will cost Rs 179 per litre and diesel will cost Rs163 per litre.

The new decision will come into effect from Saturday midnight.

The move follows instructions from the House committee on Friday and a meeting of the coalition partners on Saturday to revise the prices of petroleum products, saying inflation was taking a toll on the general public.

The government was instructed to slash various taxes imposed on petroleum products.

After the latest hike in prices, petrol price has gone up to Rs199 per litre. Diesel and kerosene price has risen to Rs192 per litre.

On Sunday night, Nepal Oil Corporation jacked up prices—Rs21 in petrol and Rs27 in diesel and kerosene.

According to Nepal Oil Corporation, the government levies Rs65.61 in taxes on every litre of petrol sold at Rs199. It collects Rs49.53 on every litre of diesel sold at Rs192. The government also collects Rs10 as infrastructure tax in each liter of petrol and diesel sold.

During Saturday’s meeting senior leader of the Nepali Congress Ram Chandra Poudel urged coalition leaders to take immediate action to control the prices of commodities because it has started to take a toll on the general public.

Saturday’s meeting was attended by Nepali Congress President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (Maoist Centre) chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN (Unified Socialist) chair Madhav Nepal, Janata Samajbadi Party chair Upendra Yadav and Congress senior leader Poudel. Four ministers, including Badu, were also present.

“Today's coalition meeting has decided to direct the government to cut the prices of petroleum products to control inflation and provide relief to the public," said Ramesh Malla, chief personal secretary to CPN (Maoist Centre) Chair Dahal.

He said that the coalition meeting then asked the government to take a decision on slashing the prices of the petroleum products.

On Friday, the Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Welfare Protection Committee of Parliament had directed the government to slash the taxes on petroleum products by half.