Government is likely to hike prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas by 10-15 per cent by the weekend and lower import duty on crude and products to stem oil pool deficit, which might otherwise reach Rs 24,000 crore by year end on account of high international oil prices.x Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha is believed to have had detailed discussion with the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday and a final decision would be taken after Petroleum Minister Ram Naik's return from Indonesia on Saturday. Vajpayee has already indicated a price hike in petro products, saying that nation should be ready for hard decisions in view of shooting international crude prices. Government sources said that the efforts would be made to contain the pool deficit between Rs 9000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore and a combination of price hike and duty adjustment would be made to cover rs 14,000 crore deficit during the fiscal. Bureau Report