The federal government has announced increase in the prices of all petroleum products for November 2018. On Wednesday, the government raised the prices of petrol by Rs5 per litre. The price of high speed diesel (HSD) has been raised by Rs 6.37 per litre while light diesel oil (LDO) price has been pushed up by Rs6.48 litre.
Based on the international oil prices of last three months around average $73 per barrel crude oil, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had worked out an increase of Rs 9.02 per litre in the price of petrol. However, an increase of only Rs 5 had been allowed by the government. Likewise, as against the recommended increase of Rs 13.22 per litre in the price of HSD by the regulator, the government approved an increase of Rs 6.37 per litre.
For kerosene oil, the regulator had recommended an increase of Rs 6.47 per litre but the government has allowed an increase of Rs 3 per litre only. As for the light diesel oil, the recommended increase of Rs 6.48 per litre has been approved as the tax and levy on this product is already quite negligible.
With the increase, the new price of petrol stands at Rs 97.83 per litre, HSD Rs 112.94, kerosene oil Rs 86.50 and light diesel oil Rs 82.44 per litre for November 2018.
The major increase in prices of high speed diesel had been proposed by the regulator. Diesel is widely used in agriculture and transport sectors. The increase in its price would seriously impact daily life. However, the government passed on partial increase in its price to provide relief to consumers. In a statement, the finance ministry said the government has decided to absorb the substantial impact of increase in the prices of petroleum products and only partially passed on the increase to consumers for November. The decision has been taken to minimize the burden on the public at large.
The government has adjusted sales tax on petroleum products for November in order to provide relief to people. The government, for last two months (September-October) kept the petroleum products'' prices unchanged. The revised GST rates for petroleum products, for the two months stood low. As per the FBR''s SRO, the GST on petrol has been lowered from 9.5 percent to 4.5 percent. The same on HSD slashed from 22 percent to17.5 percent. The GST on kerosene came down to 1 percent and that on LDO to zero percent. On the other hand, Petroleum Levy (PL) was revised upward, ie, from Rs 9.68/litre to Rs 9.99/litre in case of petrol. Under a notification issued by the FBR here late Wednesday night, from November 1, 2018 the sales tax on motor spirit remained unchanged at 4.5 percent, kerosene oil remained unchanged at 1.5 percent and sales tax on Light Diesel Oil (LDO) remained unchanged at zero percent. However, the government has decreased the applicable sales tax rate on HSD from the current 17.5 percent to 12 percent.
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