A lack of coordination among various Divisions created confusion about the size of reduction in the prices of petroleum products for the month of September. In separate tweets, Minister for Petroleum Omar Ayub Khan and Special assistant to Prime Minister Firdos Ashiq Awan quoted different figures about reduction in the prices of petroleum products. On other hand Ministry of Finance rejected the figures announced in the tweets. In a statement, the minister said," The new POL prices being reported in a section of the media are not correct. Official press release in this regard shall be issued today evening (August 31)".
Omar Ayub tweeted that federal government is providing relief to general public by reducing the prices of POL products. He claimed that government approved Rs 5.33 per litre reduction in the prices of HSD. While Firdous Ashiq claimed Rs 7.67 per litre reduction in HSD prices. Earlier, The federal government announced up to 6 percent reduction in the prices of petroleum products for the month of September as recommended by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA).
The new prices will be applicable from 1st September. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan tweeted that people friendly government decided to pass on full impact of reduction in oil prices in international market to people instead of benefiting from it directly. The OGRA recommended the government to decrease the prices of all petroleum products up to 6 percent for the month of September.
The oil and gas regulator Friday proposed the government to decrease the prices of motor sprit (MS) by Rs 4.59 per litre. The price of high speed diesel (HSD) has been recommended to be decreased by Rs 7.67 per litre, kerosene oil by Rs 4.27 per litre and light speed diesel (LDO) by Rs 5.63 per litre. The summary has been forwarded to the Ministry of Finance for final approval. After the approval of the recommended changes in the oil prices, the new price of MS will reduce from Rs 117.83 to Rs 113.24 per litre (4 percent), kerosene oil from Rs 103.84 to Rs 99.57 per litre (4 percent) and LDO price will come down from Rs 97.52 to Rs 91.89 per litre (6 percent).
The government is charging 17 per cent general sales tax (GST) on all petroleum products. Besides the GST, the petroleum levy ranging between Rs 14-18 per litre is being charged on petrol and HSD and Rs 3-6 on kerosene and LDO. The decision to pass on full impact of reduction in global oil prices directly to general people was taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 23, 2019.
After a meeting held recently with the Prime Minister on economic road map, Advisor on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh stated that the government wanted to make sure that decline in oil prices in the international market be passed on to the end consumers. The Opec crude oil price has dropped to below $60 per barrel, showing a decline of about $10 a barrel in the couple of weeks. Keeping this in view, this significant decline in international crude oil prices in recent days, the federal government is expected to reduce domestic oil prices.
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