Govt jacks up POL prices on new year

The federal government on Thursday notified an increase of up to 5.8% in the prices of all petroleum products for the first half of January 2021. However, the increase was not in line with the recommendations of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).

The regulator had recommended an increase of Rs10.68 per litre in the price of petrol. But Prime Minister Imran Khan rejected the suggestion and approved a hike of Rs2.31 per litre. The new petrol price has gone up by 2.2% to Rs106 per litre from Rs103.69 per litre, a statement issued by the PM Office said.

A massive increase of Rs16 per kilo was witnessed in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) with effect from January 1, 2021. The new rates of LPG after the increase will be Rs148 per kilo as against Rs132 per kilo.

The prime minister also approved an increase in the price of high speed diesel (HSD) by up to Rs1.80 per litre as against Ogra’s suggestion of Rs8.37 per litre. The new rate of HSD is up by 1.6% to Rs110.24 per litre from the earlier Rs108.44 per litre.

The price of kerosene oil has been increased by Rs3.36 per litre or 4.7% to Rs73.65 per litre from Rs70.29 per litre, the notification stated. Ogra had proposed an increase of Rs10.92 per litre in the kerosene oil price.

Against Ogra proposal of jacking up the price of light diesel oil (LDO) by Rs14.87 per litre, the PM Office notified an increase of Rs3.95 per litre.

The new rate of LDO has been increased by 5.8% to Rs71.81 per litre from Rs67.86 per litre.

Federal government claims that Ogra had worked out a massive increase in the prices of all the petroleum products, however it decided to pass on a partial increase to the general masses to provide some relief.

On Thursday, Ogra issued a price-revision notification of LPG for the month of January.

According to the notification, the authority increased the locally produced LPG price by Rs187.47 per cylinder of 11.8 kilogrammes.

After the revised price, the cylinder would be sold in the open market at Rs1,740.69, which was available at Rs1,553.22 during the month of December.

WITH INPUT FROM APP