Petrol, diesel prices up by Rs2 a litre

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday increased the prices of petrol, diesel and light diesel oil (LDO) by Rs 2 per litre each, while the price of kerosene was increased by Rs4 per litre for the month of October.

The new prices will be effective from today (Sunday).

With the  increase in the  prices of petrol, diesel and LDO, the new price of petrol from October 1 will be Rs73.50 per litre, diesel Rs79.40 per litre and LDO Rs46 a litre. After a Rs4 per litre increase the new price of kerosene will be Rs48 per litre. These new prices will be effective from October 1 until midnight of October 31, 2017.

It is worth mentioning that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had recommended increase of Rs2.35 per litre in the price of petrol and of diesel by Rs2.17/litre for October 2017.

The regulator had also suggested Rs19.32/litre increase in the price of kerosene and Rs14.09 a litre in the price of Light Diesel Oil (LDO). 

Interestingly, the government has been continuously increasing the GST on petrol and diesel for the last several months.

In July, the government collected 33.5 percent GST on High Speed Diesel and 20.5 percent GST on Motor Spirit excluding High Octane Blended Component (HOBC). In August 2017, the GST on motor spirit was kept unchanged, while this tax on diesel was increased to 35.5 percent.

It is worth mentioning that the government is collecting  a whooping Rs25 billion General Sales Tax  on petroleum products and Rs10 billion in petroleum levy every month from the consumers. Over the last several months, the government had kept the prices of kerosene and LDO unchanged and did not levy any GST on either of them. 

Unfortunately, the government has no control over black-marketeering in this sector and the oil mafia had been selling kerosene at higher rates ranging from Rs90 to Rs100 per litre against the "official" price of Rs 44. In a move to facilitate the black marketeers, the government did not increase the tariff for Kerosene for several months.