ISLAMABAD: The government early Thursday jacked up petroleum prices for the next fortnight despite a massive reduction in global oil prices, mainly because of imposing more taxes on the demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to the notification issued by the finance ministry, the petrol price has been increased by Rs2.07 per liter, high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs2.99, kerosene by Rs10.92, and that of light diesel oil (LDO) by Rs9.79 liter.
According to the notification issued by the Finance Division, the new price of kerosene oil has been fixed at Rs210.32 per liter after an increase of Rs10.92 per liter.
The new prices will be effective from September 1, the notification added.
It should be noted that the decline in oil prices in international market reflected a fall of Rs20 on the basis of free on board (FOB) for consumers in the next fortnightly review but government has increased petroleum prices further as after imposing Rs10.5% GST and Rs30 per liter PL, in addition to other charges like dealers’ and distributors’ margins.
The government expects to collect Rs60 billion as PL and Rs31 billion as GST per month. The price of petrol is presently Rs233.91 per liter, diesel Rs244.44 per liter, kerosene oil Rs199.40 per liter, and the price of light diesel oil is Rs191.75 per liter.
Its price may also jump further if the government slapped sales tax on its sale, which has been frozen for the last six months.
The oil sector people said the government was yet to adjust the exchange loss, which was Rs23 per liter on petrol and Rs13 per liter on diesel.
It is worth mentioning that the average international oil price is hovering around $93 per barrel.
