PM wants oil cut benefit pass on to consumers

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday took a serious notice of price hike in the country despite a massive cut in the petroleum products and called on the provinces and adviser on finance to ensure that the benefit of cut in the oil rates was passed on to the consumers.

He directed the officials concerned to ensure that the impact of cut in the prices of petroleum products was reflected in the prices of essential commodities on a daily basis.

Imran also asked the National Price Monitoring Committee to monitor the prices of essential commodities on a weekly basis, as already directed by the federal cabinet, and devise a mechanism to bring down the prices of essential commodities.

In a letter addressed to the chief ministers, chief secretaries of the four provinces and Gilgit Baltistan and Adviser on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, the prime minister stressed that the benefit of reduction in the price of petroleum products should pass on to the common man.

“The prime minister has desired that the chief ministers/chief secretaries of the provinces shall personally look into the matter and make every effort to ensure that the impact of reduction in fuel prices must correspondingly reflect in the prices of essential commodities on a daily basis,” says a copy of the letter, shared by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

“The prime minister has taken a serious view of the fact that while the federal government has reduced the POL prices drastically in the past few months, there is no corresponding reduction in the prices of essential commodities rather these are showing [an] upward trend,” it said.

The prime minister emphasized that there was no logic as to why flour prices should increase when the wheat crop harvesting had just concluded.

The government had reduced the price of petrol by Rs7.06 per litre for June, with the new price fixed at Rs74.52.

Accordingly, the price of kerosene has been cut by Rs11.88 per litre and it will now sell at Rs35.56 per litre. The price of high-speed diesel has been increased by five paisa per litre, marking the new price at Rs80.15 per litre.

Additionally, the price of light diesel oil is fixed at Rs38.14 per litre, which was previously set at Rs47.51 per litre.

However, it is interesting to note that the prices of lubricants continue to remain unchanged for the last several months.

A statement by the PM Office said Pakistan's fuel was now the cheapest in South Asia.

"India is almost exactly double. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal are all 50 to 75% more expensive than us," it noted.