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Thursday March 28, 2024

PM rejects hike in petroleum prices

Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that the prices would remain unchanged for the first fortnight of November 2021.

By Israr Khan
October 31, 2021

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday turned down the Oil and Regulatory Authority (Ogra) proposal of increasing petroleum products’ prices, and announced that the prices would remain unchanged for the first fortnight of November 2021.

The OGRA had suggested increase of Rs11.53/litre in petrol price, Rs8.49/ litre in high-speed diesel, Rs6.29 of kerosene and Rs5.72 per litre increase in Light Diesel Oil (LDO).

Prime Minister Office issued a statement in which the premier maintained that the burden of rising fuel prices in the international market would not be laid on the people. “The government is prioritising relief for the citizens instead of passing on the impact of global inflationary pressures," the statement said.

"The additional burden of higher prices, as suggested by the Ogra, which would have been transferred to the citizenry, will instead be borne by the government," it said.

Earlier, on October 16, the government had massively increased prices of all petroleum products including petrol by Rs10.49, diesel by Rs12.44/litre, kerosene oil Rs10.95 and LDO was made dearer by Rs8.84/litre.

The current prices of petrol Rs137.79 per litre, high speed diesel Rs134.48/litre, kerosene Rs110.26 per litre and that of LDO is Rs108.35 per litre. These prices will remain unchanged from November 1 to 15, 2021.

The government is currently charging about Rs5.62 per litre petroleum levy (PL) on petrol and Rs5.14 per litre on HSD. Besides, the government is also charging custom duty of about Rs9.29 per litre petrol and Rs8.81 per litre on diesel. Additionally, it also collecting General Sales Tax (GST) of Rs9 on petrol and Rs13 per litre on diesel. These taxes are directly taken from consumers.

In Pakistan, petrol is being used mostly in cars and motorbikes. Diesel is used in the agriculture and transport sectors. Consumers in remote areas use Kerosene for cooking purposes where Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is not available. LDO is being used in industrial sector.

It is to be noted that on October 16, oil prices [Global Benchmark Brent] in the international market was around $85 a barrel which was the highest since October 2018. Now, on October 30, Brent is at around $83.25/barrel. Besides, the rupee has also gained a little strength against the US dollar. These factors can also be attributed to not increasing the prices at home.