ISLAMABAD: Bragging about government’s pro-poor policies, Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar Saturday broke bitter-sweet news for the consumers of petroleum products in Pakistan, Samaa reported.
“The petrol will go dearer by Rs2.50 per litre, whereas high speed diesel by Rs1.75/litre. That’s it. We have decided to freeez the prices of other products for the next month,” Dar told reporters here.
The new prices will take effect from 12:00 AM Sunday November 1, 2015.
“We are not increasing the rates of High Octane Blending Component (HOBC), kerosene oil, and light diesel in order to provide relief to the people,” Dar said.
Earlier, speculations were doing rounds in the media that the ‘taxing’ government of Pakistan has made up its mind to burn a hole in the pockets of consumers.
“The Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has proposed a backbreaking increase in the prices of various petroleum and oil products despite the fact the prices of crude oil have fallen worldwide,” sources told Samaa.
Samaa had learnt that, petrol, the fuel of the masses, is likely to go dearer by Rs5.35/litre, diesel by Rs2.43/litre, light diesel by Rs3.63/litre, kerosene oil by Rs3.17/litre, and high octane blending component (HOBC) will most probably see a mighty jump of Rs6.10/litre.
Dar said the summary proposed that the price of petrol should be raised by Rs 5.28 per liter, High Speed Diesel by Rs 3.34 per liter, High Octane by Rs 5.73 per liter, Kerosene Oil by Rs 3.89 per liter and Light Diesel Oil (LDO) by Rs 2.7 per liter.
“The detail was discussed with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and under his direction, the government announced to cut the proposed increase in price of petrol and HSD to nearly half while the prices of kerosene oil, HOBC and LDO would be kept unchanged for next month”, the minister added.
He said with the decision, the government would have to face revenue loss of Rs 34 million during the month.
The minister said since the prices of petroleum products and other commodities have declined, the government faced a total loss in revenue collection of Rs 100 billion.
He said the revenue collection during October 2015 witnessed an increase of 20 percent as compared to same month of last year. “This is good news for the government as during first quarter of Fiscal Year 2015-16, there was a shortfall of Rs 40 billion in revenue collection” the minister informed.
The minister also announced that on the stressful demand of traders community, last date for filing of tax return without fine has been further extended for one more month to November 30.–Samaa/Agencies
Petrol up to burn more holes in Pakistan’s pockets
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