On Tuesday the government made an increase in the petroleum prices by three for the next 16 days. As per the statement of the Ministry of Finance, the prices of high-speed diesel and petrol were increased by Rs.3 per litre and Rs.5 per litre for Light diesel oil and Kerosene. The price of HSD was fixed at 108.44 per litre from the former 105.43 per litre. Being used in heavy transport vehicles and truck, this is one of the core contributors to inflation. The price of petrol was shifted to being at Rs.103.69 per litre from Rs.100.69. Petrol is mostly used in small vehicles.
LDO, mostly consumed by flour mills and a few power plants, was increased to Rs. 67.86 from Rs.62.86. Kerosene whereas used as a mixture with petrol in a few cases, shifted from Rs. 65.29 to Rs.70.29 as of now. The petroleum levy on kerosene was reduced to Rs. 5.55 per litre from the former Rs.6.10. The levy on LDO was increased by 65 paisa per litre.
Until January last year, the government was charging 0.5pc GST on LDO, 2ps on kerosene, 13pc on HSD and 8pc on petrol. It is now changing it to a standard rate of 17pc across the board to produce additional revenues. There is now a total of Rs.42 per litre tax on petrol and Rs.59 per litre on HSD. Average petrol sales are touching 700,000 tonnes per month whereas that of HSD are 600,000 tonnes. Kerosene is at 11,000 tonnes per month while LDO is generally said to be less than 2000 tonnes monthly.
The prices are said to be revised now to pass on international prices published in Platt’s Oil gram. Previously, they were revised so as on the basis of import cost of Pakistan State Oil.
