The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Thursday sent a summary to the federal government, recommending modifications in prices of petroleum products for the month of February 2020.
OGRA has recommended a downward revision in the prices of petrol and kerosene oil by 6 paisas and 66 paisas, respectively. However, the authority has suggested an increase in the prices of high-speed diesel and light diesel oil by Rs2.47 and Rs1.10, respectively.
According to an official, OGRA has moved its working paper to the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), which would be forwarded to the finance ministry for approval.
“The government will take a decision on the summary tomorrow (Friday),” the official said. “The new prices of petroleum products, if agreed, would come into effect from the 1st February 2020.”
If the government accepts the regulator’s recommendations, the price of petrol would witness a nominal decrease from Rs116.60 per litre to Rs116.54 per litre, while that of kerosene would witness a reduction from Rs99.45 per litre to Rs98.79 per litre.
On the other hand, the price of diesel would go up from Rs127.26 per litre to Rs129.73 per litere, while LDO price would see a hike from the Rs84.51 per litre to Rs85.61 per litre.
The government is currently charging 17pc general sales tax (GST) on all petroleum products. In addition, petroleum levy is also being charged on these products from the consumers.
The government is charging a petroleum levy of Rs18 per litre on diesel, Rs15 per litre on petrol, Rs6 per litre on kerosene and Rs3 per litre on LDO.
During the previous government’s tenure, petroleum levy was charged in the range of Rs3 to Rs10 a litre but GST was higher than the current rate.
Since GST collection was transferred to provinces keeping in view its high revenue requirement, the federal government had reduced the GST rate while increasing the petroleum levy to collect and transfer more revenue to the national exchequer.
