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Monthly revision: Ignoring OGRA, govt leaves oil prices unchanged
Regulator recommended a reduction in line with global trend.
Regulator recommended a reduction in line with global trend. DESIGN: FAIZAN DAWOOD
ISLAMABAD:
The government on Monday turned down a proposal of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) to reduce petroleum product prices in line with the decline in global crude prices and kept most of the prices unchanged.
However, the price of light diesel oil (LDO) was cut by Rs1.31 per litre, effective from Tuesday, says an announcement.
Prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD), which are used by most of the consumers, have not been slashed in line with the global trend. Diesel demand from farmers is expected to stay high as the Kharif crop planting season is currently going on.
Earlier in a summary sent to the federal government, Ogra had proposed a cut of Rs1 per litre in the price of petrol, Rs1.31 in HSD, Rs4.89 in high octane blending component (HOBC), Rs2.13 in kerosene oil and Rs1.64 in LDO.
However, the Ministry of Finance rejected the proposal apparently in a bid to earn more revenue on account of petroleum levy, a government official said.
On petrol, the levy had been increased from Rs8 to Rs8.86 per litre, HOBC from Rs7.62 to Rs11.84 per litre, kerosene oil from Rs3.32 to Rs5.15 per litre, LDO from Rs2.72 to Rs3 per litre and HSD from Rs3.07 to Rs4.20 per litre, he said.
“The government will likely collect Rs1.5 billion in additional revenue in May due to increase in rates of petroleum levy,” the official said, adding total revenue collection from sale of petroleum products for the month was estimated at Rs24 billion including Rs6 billion from petroleum levy and Rs18 billion from general sales tax (GST).
In the latest announcement, the price of petrol has been kept at Rs103.36 per litre, HSD at Rs107, kerosene oil at Rs99.95 and HOBC at Rs135.81. Following a reduction of Rs1.31, LDO price stands at Rs97.43 per litre.
In a statement, Petroleum Secretary Mohammed Ejaz Chaudhry said the government left unchanged ex-depot sale prices of petroleum products because of dynamics of the international market for the month starting May 1.
He reminded that the government had provided relief to the consumers by slashing prices of kerosene oil, motor spirit (petrol) and HSD from April 4 through a reduction in petroleum levy.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2012.
Reader Comments (6)
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when ogra recommends increase in price, then u ppl dont say,IGNORE ogra!!
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Oil prices in Pakistan should be above international prices for these reasons:
1. discourage excessive and reckless consumption of a resource that is imported and paid for in forex
2. use extra revenue to pay for upkeep and building of roads
3. extra revenue to pay off and retire circular debt
4. subsidize railway and encourage use of railway for freight transportation
5. encourage more people to use cycles or public transport
6. purchase buses for public travelRecommend
The problem is Govt is taking this easy way to collect taxes. The FBR is useless, cannot even introduced taxes on agriculture etc.
The point is people are ready to pay taxes if they see Govt is doing something for them and their is a transparent and efficient utilisation of the tax payer money.
Right now, there is an army of Ministers and their entourage, which is pure burden on economy.And there are no big scale infrastructure projects going on, which create jobs for people and create assets for Govt.
We might see a change if this Govt goes.
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I dont know which world you’re living in mr xyz but if the oil prices are continuously kept above the international price and subsidy is allocated then the prices of all general consumables will also rise. All major transport, public and commercial runs on primarily HSD, if you keep that at a higher rate you would also be ensuring that the price of some very basic consumables such as sugar, chicken etc are high as well.
And the money that is being generated is not helping the nation in anyway, it’s just lining the bank accounts of our esteemed politicians therefore in a country as corrupt as Pakistan it’s better to leave fuel prices subsidized, at least that way some of the taxes we pay come to some good use.
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Whats the point of OGRA if they can’t set and regulate the petroleum prices? Disband the OGRA and set prices at will, nothing else can be expected from convicts and jailbirds.
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@abc:
No don’t use a generalized subsidy such as on the budget because that benefits the rich in the SUV’s mostly. NO fiscal subsidies; cash transfers for the poor. You have a poverty scorecard and you know who the poor really are.
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