Omar Ayub claims Pakistan has lowest petrol price in subcontinent even after this revision
ISLAMABAD - The government on Friday announced a massive increase of up to 66.09 percent in POL prices and hiked the prices of Petrol by Rs 25.58 per litre and High-Speed Diesel by Rs 21.31 per litre.
The government has decided to revise the existing prices of petroleum products in view of the rising prices trend in the global market, said a notification issued by the Finance division. The government, while completely ignoring the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), has increased the prices of all the petroleum products with immediate effect for the remaining days of June and coming month of July.
As per the notification the price of Motor Spirit (MS-Petrol-92 RON) has been increased by Rs 25.58 per litre (34.33 percent), HSD by Rs 21.31 per litre (26.59), Superior Kerosene Oil (SKO) by Rs 23.50 (66.09 percent) ,Light Diesel Oil(LDO) by Rs 17.84 per litre (46.78 percent).
The price of Petrol will go up from the existing Rs 74.52 per litre to Rs 100.10 per litre, HSD from Rs 80.15 per litre to Rs 101.46 per litre, SKO from Rs 35.56 per litre to Rs 59.06 per litre and LDO from Rs 38.14 per litre to Rs 55.98 per litre. The new prices will be effective from 26th June 2020.
It is not clear that under which rule the government has upward revised the oil prices in such a hurry and four days earlier than the stipulated time period. Although a proposal to determine the oil prices on biweekly basis was under consideration but no decision has yet been taken.
Under the existing rules on 28th or 29th of each month Ogra’s recommended the revised prices of petroleum products to the Petroleum Division and the federal government announced the decisions on the last day of each month. However, for the month of July Ogra has been completely side-lined and Petroleum Division has recommended the government a massive increase in the oil prices.
Apparently, the decision regarding abnormal price hike has been taken under severe pressure from the Oil Marketing Companies who were pressurising the government for prices increase. The OMCs have also stopped supply to retails outlets which has resulted severe Petrol shortage across the country.
A source in the Ogra told the scribe on the condition of anonymity that the decision by the federal government to increase the price has been taken in violation of rules. The Finance Ministry should simply answer one question that under which rule they have increased the price on the 26th of the month, the source said.
It is worth mentioning here that when for the month of June the government decreased the price of petrol by Rs 7.06 per litre, all of the sudden all the petrol pumps dried out.
The government is currently charging Petroleum Levy on petroleum products and increased PL on High Speed Diesel to Rs 30 per litre, Rs 23.76 on Petrol, Rs 18.02 on SKO and Rs 11.18 on LDO. It is worth to mention here that in the previous government of PML(N), the petroleum levy was in the range of Rs3 to Rs10 per litre.
Instead of decreasing the PL on petroleum products, the government has passed on the entire burden of high prices of petroleum products to consumers.
Late Friday night, Federal Minister Omar Ayub Khan in a tweet claimed ‘Pakistan has lowest petrol price in Sub Continent even after this revision.