ISLAMABAD:The caretaker government on Monday announced a considerable increase in the prices of petroleum products, effective from 12th of this month.
The high speed diesel (HSD) underwent the biggest raise in price i.e. Rs6.55 per litre, followed by light diesel oil (LDO) Rs6.14 per litre, kerosene oil by Rs4.46 per litre, and petrol Rs4.26 per litre.
The new per litre rates of petrol, HSD, kerosene oil and LDO will be Rs91.96, Rs105.31, Rs84.34 and Rs74.99 per litre respectively.
On its last day in power, the previous PML-N government had avoided making the unpopular decision of price rise.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had recommended a massive increase in oil prices for June, but the then government chose to keep fuel prices unchanged.
“Our government ends today [May 31], and new prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene oil come into effect from tomorrow [June 1], therefore, on the recommendation of the finance ministry, the PM has decided to leave the prices unchanged till June 7, so that the incoming [caretaker] government can decide new prices,” then finance minister Miftah Ismail had tweeted.
Ogra had recommended an increase of as much as 16.9% in the prices of petroleum products for June, following the rise in global crude oil prices.
The regulatory authority had recommended a price increase of HSD by Rs12.5 per litre (12.7%), petrol by Rs8.37 (9.5%), kerosene oil by Rs8.23 (10.3%) and LDO by Rs11.65 (16.9%).
The government is collecting 31% sales tax on HSD. On all other petroleum products, the government charges 17% tax.
Moreover, it is charging petroleum levy at the rate of Rs8 per litre on HSD, Rs10 per litre on petrol, Rs6 per litre on kerosene oil and Rs3 per litre on LDO.
A statement issued by the finance ministry said the caretaker government would absorb 50% impact of the increase in fuel prices, effective from June 12 this year, to provide relief to the common man in the holy month of Ramazan.
