Petroleum prices remain unchanged

Impact of rise in international oil prices not passed on to the people

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to maintain the prices of petroleum products at the current level during the month of August 2018.

Despite Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority’s (OGRA) recommendation to increase the price due to a hike in the international market, the government has decided to keep the rates of petroleum products unchanged.

Tax and duty adjustments have been made accordingly. The decision was taken in order to provide maximum relief to the common man.

The Ogra had recommended increase in price of high speed diesel by Rs2 per litre, petrol Rs2.50 per litre, kerosene oil Rs5 per litre and light diesel oil Rs6 per litre for August.



However, the caretaker government did not pass the impact of the hike in international oil rates on to the consumers for August. High speed diesel is widely used in transport and agriculture sectors.

Earlier, the caretaker government had on July 1 hiked the price of petrol by Rs7.54 to Rs99.50 per litre, diesel by Rs14 to Rs119.3 per litre and kerosene oil by Rs3.36 to Rs87.7 per litre.

It also raised rates of other petroleum products.

However, a week later, the prices were brought down after the Supreme Court took notice of heavy taxes on the sale of petroleum products.

On July 7, the federal government reduced prices of petroleum products by up to Rs6.37 per litre in order to provide relief to the general public.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, the petrol price was reduced by Rs4.26 to Rs95.24 per litre, high-speed diesel by Rs6.37 to Rs112.94, kerosene oil by Rs3.74 to Rs83.96 and light diesel oil by Rs5.54 to Rs75.37.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1^st, 2018.