PM rejects proposal to increase POL prices in November

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday turned down the Oil and Regulatory Authority’s proposal to increase petroleum products’ prices and announced that the prices would remain unchanged till end of this November.

Reports said the OGRA had suggested an increase of Rs5/litre in petrol and diesel prices. The Finance Division said in a statement that despite rising petroleum product prices globally, the prime minister has rejected the proposal for increase in the prices and said the POL prices would remain same from November 16, 2021 to providing maximum relief to the people. It is pertinent to mention that on November 4, the government announced a massive increase in POL prices, bifurcating as petrol up by Rs8.14/litre, diesel 8.14/litre, kerosene 6.27/litre, and light diesel oil by Rs5.72/litre.

The current ex-depot price of petrol is Rs145.82 per litre, high-speed diesel Rs142.62 per litre, kerosene Rs116.53 per litre, and LDO is Rs114.07 per litre. It is decided that these prices would remain unchanged till the end of this month. 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 on petrol about Rs9.29 per litre and diesel Rs8.81 per litre. Additionally, it has also been collecting general sales tax (GST) of Rs9 on petrol and Rs13 per litre on diesel. These taxes are directly taken from consumers.

The consumers in remote areas use Kerosene for cooking purposes, where gas is not available. The LDO is being consumed by flour mills and a couple of power plants. 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 November 15, Brent is at around $81/barrel.