AHMAD AHMADANI
The masses would find a New Year gift with the start of January 2017 as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has turned down the proposal for price hike in petroleum products (POL) and ordered to maintain the prices at current level.
With this decision of reprieve from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to the over-burdened masses, the Finance Ministry would provide Rs 4 billion subsidy to keep the prices of POL products unchanged for the first fifteen days of the first month of 2017.
Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar after getting consent from the premier announced on Saturday the government’s policy regarding petroleum products prices for the month of January 2017. He said in order to maintain stability since April 2016, prices have been maintained despite fluctuation in international prices and the government has been absorbing the negative financial impact due to government’s decisions for not passing increases to end consumers.
Only partial increase in MS Petrol and HSD of what had been recommended by OGRA was passed on to the end consumers for only the month of December, 2016.
“In line with the prime minister’s instructions to provide maximum relief to the common man and keeping in view that Kerosene Oil and LDO are used by the low-income people, it has been decided to maintain the prices of Kerosene and LDO at current level for the entire month of January, 2017,” the Finance minister said, adding, “It has also been decided that the prices of MS RON 92 Petrol and HSD will be frozen and will remain unchanged at the current level till midnight January 15, 2016.”
He said that Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources and OGRA (Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority) have recommended an increase in prices from January 1, 2017 by 0.5pc in MS 92 RON Petrol, 5.2pc in High Speed Diesel (HSD), 16pc in Kerosene Oil (SKO), and 8pc in light diesel oil (LDO) with effect from January 1, 2017.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Thursday dispatched a summary pertaining to the prices of petroleum products (POL) to the ministries of Petroleum and Finance. The regulatory authority (OGRA) worked out hike in the per litre price of petrol, mainly used in cars, by 31 paisa per litre, High Speed Diesel (HSD), which is mostly used in the transport and agriculture sectors, by Rs 3.94 per liter, and the price of Kerosene oil (SKO), used for cooking purposes in remote areas where liquefied petroleum gas is not readily available, by Rs 6.93 per litre for next month.
Similarly, OGRA proposed hike in the price of light diesel oil (LDO), mainly used for industrial purposes, by Rs 3.48 for January.
The Finance Ministry said the proposed increase in prices of Kerosene, LDO and MS Petrol were based on the reduced Sales Tax rates on these three petroleum products. In case the full sales tax at 17pc is levied on these products, the increase in these products work out to be Rs 14.31 per litre in Kerosene oil, Rs 10.11 per litre in LDO, and Rs 1.77 in MS Petrol.
Sources earlier told this scribe that PML-N government would not approve hike as OGRA worked out in its working paper because of political pressure. They said the government has the capability to absorb the impact of the proposed increase in oil prices by adjusting tax rates on petroleum products.
