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- May 15, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
Petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) rates were cut by the government on Wednesday by Rs15.39 and Rs7.88, respectively, for the upcoming two weeks. The decline, according to a notification from the finance ministry, was caused by price fluctuations in the global market because the price of petroleum products had been on a “decreasing trend” for the previous 15 days. It stated that the price of HSD was Rs274.08 and the price of petrol was Rs273.1 per liter. Dawn was previously informed by reliable sources that for the past two weeks, there has been a decrease in the worldwide market prices of petrol and HSD by approximately $8.7 and $4.3 per barrel, respectively.
The import premium on petroleum rose to $10.30 a barrel over the previous two weeks, an increase of more than 7%. It had previously decreased in two stages, from $13.50 per barrel in March to $9.60 per barrel before April 30. The import premium paid by the benchmark Pakistan State Oil stayed at $6.50 per barrel, while the price of HSD decreased by almost $4.3 per barrel on the global market. The maximum allowable limit of Rs60 per liter for petroleum development levies (PDLs) on petrol and HSD has already been met by the government, which received Rs720 billion in revenue in the first nine months that concluded on March 31. The government had set a budget objective to collect Rs869 billion in petroleum levies during the current fiscal year by the promises made to the International Monetary Fund.
The main cause of the unparalleled inflation has been the high cost of power and petroleum. Gasoline is mostly utilized for personal transportation, compact cars, rickshaws, and two-wheelers, and its cost directly impacts the middle-class and lower-class budgets. In the meantime, the government taxes petrol and HSD at a rate of roughly Rs82 per liter. The government charges Rs60 per liter PDL for both petroleum products, even though there is no general sales tax on any of them. However, it charges Rs. 50 per liter for 95RON petrol, a high-octane mixing component. Additionally, the government levies a customs fee of roughly Rs. 19–20 per liter on petrol and HSD. The main sources of income are petrol and HSD, which sell between 700,000 and 800,000 tonnes per month whereas kerosene demand is only 10,000 tonnes.