PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif says reduction in POL prices is insufficient as there is huge decline in oil prices in international market.
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-May 1st, 2020) Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif rejected reduction in the prices of petroleum products here on Friday.
Shehbaz Sharif said that reduction in POL prices was insufficient as there was huge decline in oil prices in international market.
“Pakistan did not buy oil when the prices fell down international market, the punishment and repercussions of which are being borne by the people. The government should fix the price of petrol and diesel at Rs. 50. Government is depriving people of its rights,” said Shehbaz Sharif.
The people, he said, should have been given extraordinary relief.
“People have not been provided relief by the government,” he said, adding that there should be significance decline in the POL prices in Pakistan.
He said that a 50 per cent or at least one-third reduction in electricity and gas prices and said that the reduction in electricity and gas prices would alleviate the economic woes of the people.
The Federal government reduced the prices of petroleum products with ranging from 15 to 30 rupees to facilitate the general public here on Friday.
According to an official notification issued by the Finance Division, the prices of petrol were slashed by Rs 15 and new prices would be 81.58 rupees. The prices of High Speed Diesel were decreased by Rs 27.15 and new prices would be Rs. 80.10 whereas Light Diesel Oil prices were slashed by Rs. 15 and new prices would be 47.51 rupees.
Similarly, Kerosene Oil prices were reduced by Rs. 30.01 and new prices would be Rs. 47.44.
Earlier, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) recommended to the government to reduce petroleum prices by up to Rs. 44 per litre for May 2020 due to sharp decline in crude oil prices in international market.
Ogra had suggested that the price of diesel may be reduced by Rs33.94 per litre (or 31.6%), petrol by Rs20.68/ litre (21.4%), kerosene oil by Rs44.07/ litre (56.9%) and light diesel oil (LDO) by Rs24.57/ litre (39.3%).
Petrol price would come down from current Rs96.58/ litre to Rs75.9/ litre and diesel price will reduce to Rs73.31/ litre from current Rs107.25/litre If the government accepted the suggestion of the Authority.
Similarly, the LDO price will come down to Rs37.94/ litre from current Rs62.51/ litre and kerosene price will come down to Rs33.38/ litre from current Rs77.45/litre.
It may be mentioned here that the government is also charging 17% general sales tax (GST) on all petroleum products. The government, apart from it, is also collecting petroleum levy (PL) on these products, which is directly taken from consumers. In order to meet the revenue shortfall for March 2020, the government had increased the petroleum levy (PL) on these products. The levy on per litre diesel was increased from 7.05 to Rs25.05; on per litre petrol, it was increased from Rs4.75 to Rs19.75 from earlier Rs15 per litre; on kerosene , the levy was increased from Rs6.33 to Rs12.33 per litre and on Light Diesel oil, it was increased by Rs1.94 to Rs4.94 per litre.
