The government on Friday kept the prices of all petroleum products unchanged for the next 15 days by reducing tax rates.
“In line with the vision of the prime minister to provide relief to the consumers in the holy month of Ramzan, the government has decided not to increase the prices of petroleum products,” said an announcement by the Finance Division.
It said the government had to make “adjustment in the rates of petroleum levy on all petroleum products and a reduction in sales tax as well in case of kerosene oil and light diesel oil (LDO)”. The cumulative revenue impact of the decision would be Rs4.8 billion, it added.
The ex-depot prices of petrol and high speed diesel (HSD) would remain unchanged at Rs108.56 and Rs110.76 per litre, respectively. Likewise, the prices of kerosene and LDO would also stay unchanged at Rs80 and Rs77.65 per litre, respectively.
In its announcement, the Finance Division made a misstatement that “it is pertinent to mention that the government was not charging any petroleum levy on kerosene and light diesel oil”.
However, a report by Dawn states that the government had been charging Rs3.51 per litre petroleum levy on kerosene and Rs3.27 on light diesel oil for the last 15 days.
Under a new mechanism, oil prices are revised by the government on a fortnightly basis to pass on international prices published in Platt’s Oilgram instead of the previous mechanism of monthly calculations on the basis of import cost of Pakistan State Oil.
