POL prices increased up to Rs 4.99 per litre

The government on Wednesday increased the prices of petroleum products ranging from Rs 2.73 to Rs 4.99 per litre, which was notified by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), effective from August 1 (Thursday). The regulatory body had sent a summary to the Ministry of Petroleum and Ministry of Finance for increasing the POL prices as per fluctuations in the international market.
The Ministry of Finance provided a slight relief in the price of High Speed Diesel as it approved an increase of Rs 3 per litre against Ogra's calculation of Rs 4.50 per litre. The Ministry of Finance ignoring the regulatory body's proposal not to pass on the full impact of oil prices on the general consumers by absorbing Petroleum Levy (PL) has passed on full impact on the final consumers. The regulatory body has argued that the passing full impact on to the consumers will resulted in massive hike in transport fares on Eid-ul-Fitar.
Keeping in view the international trend of oil prices and devaluation of Pakistani rupee against other international currencies especially US dollar, the authority recommended an increase of Rs 4.99 per litre Kerosene Oil price, Rs 2.73 per litre in petrol price, Rs 4.50 per litre in High Speed Diesel (HSD) price, Rs 3.95 per litre in Light Diesel Oil (LDO) price, Rs 4.98 per litre in JP-1 price, Rs 4.48 per litre in JP-4 price and Rs 4.98 per litre in JP-8 price.
The government absorbed Rs 1.5 on account of Petroleum Levy on HSD as it increased Rs 3 per litre price of the commodity. On account of Petroleum Levy the government is collecting Rs 10 per litre on petrol, Rs 14 on HOBC, Rs 6 on kerosene and Rs 8 on HSD. Moreover the government is also collecting General Sales Tax (GST) at 17 percent on the sale petroleum products and the increase in the fuel prices will also increase the government's General Sales Tax (GST) collection.
At present different petroleum products are available at following rates: Petrol at Rs 101.77 per litre, HOBC at Rs 126.77 per litre, HSD at Rs 106.76 per litre, LDO at Rs 92.17 per litre, kerosene oil at Rs 96.29 per litre, JP-1 at Rs 84.90 per litre, Jp-4 at Rs 77.86 per litre and JP-8 at Rs 84.57 per litre. After the increase, the new prices will be as following: petrol at Rs 104.50 per litre, HOBC at Rs 132.27 per litre, HSD at Rs 109.76 per litre, kerosene oil at Rs 101.28 per litre, LDO at Rs 96.12 per litre, JP-1 at Rs 89.88 per litre, JP-4 at Rs 82.34 per litre and Jp-8 at Rs 89.55 per litre.