Nine days after the municipal polls, the state-owned monopoly, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), has increased prices of petroleum (POL) products with immediate effect from Friday.

According to the NOC, the price of diesel has been fixed at Rs 55 per liter—a hike of Rs 7, price of kerosene has been fixed at 46 per liter—a hike of Rs 6 while retail price of petrol has gone up by one rupee per liter.

NOC officials said they had raised the petroleum prices to adjust the domestic price with that in the international market. Spokesman of the NOC, Sushil Bhattarai, said NOC would still be incurring a loss of Rs 300 per month even after latest price hike—down from Rs 570 million loss per month earlier.

According to reports, the NOC had sought permission to hike prices of POL products for the last few months but had been asked by the government to wait until municipal polls are over.

In August last year, the government had increased retail prices of petroleum products (POL) sparking widespread protests for several days by student activists affiliated to the opposition parties. The price of petrol had been fixed at Rs 67 per liter, that of diesel at Rs 46 per liter, kerosene at Rs 39 per liter and aviation fuel at Rs 53. No changes had been made in the price of LPG gas.