The Government of Pakistan has decreased the prices of petroleum products keeping in view the decrease of oil prices globally.
The authority has decreased the price of petrol by PKR 15 rupees per liter, and now its price stands at PKR 81.58 per liter. Moreover, the new price of High-speed diesel, Kerosene, and Light-speed diesel is PKR 80.10 per liter, PKR 47.44 per liter, and PKR 47.51 per liter, respectively. See the notification below:
The new prices have come into effect from 1st May 2020.
It is important to mention here that in summary sent to the Ministry of Petroleum by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) earlier, not only the authority recommended slashing the petrol price by PKR 21 per liter, but it has also recommended a decrease in diesel price by PKR 33.94 per liter. Moreover, it also recommended that the government should decrease the price of Light-speed diesel by PKR 24.57 per liter and that of Kerosene oil by PKR 44.07 per liter. The government has not slashed the prices as recommended by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), but, on the other hand, it increased the Petroleum Levy (PL) on all the oil products.
PL on diesel has been hiked by Rs4.95 per liter, and now it stands at Rs30 per liter. Moreover, the PL on petrol, Kerosene, and Light-speed diesel is Rs 23.76 per liter, Rs18.02 per liter, and Rs11.18 per liter, respectively. For detail, see the table below:
Aside from Petroleum Levy, the government is also charging 17% General Sales Tax (GST) on all petroleum products. The current government was very critical of the past government, who was not giving all the relief to the public whenever the prices of oil products go down in the international market. And now, as we know that the prices of petroleum products are all-time low, still the government has not passed down all the relief to the public. The government didn’t slash the prices as recommended by OGRA but, on the contrary, increased Petroleum Levy to increase its revenue shortfall.
These are pure gimmicks played by the government, showing that they have given relief to the public; instead, it is only making a fool out of the people. It is high time for the government to take the front row and tell the public why haven’t they given the full relief to the public instead increased the PL on oil products. It should give the answer like the way it demanded from the previous government.
That’s it from our side, drop your thoughts in the comments section below.
