Govt decides to reduce petrol, diesel prices by Rs2 per litre
New prices will be applicable from 1st of December 2018 to 31st December 2018.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The government has decided to reduce the prices of petroleum products by Rs.2 per litre, each for petrol and diesel, the Ministry of Finance stated in a press release on Friday.
“The prices of Kerosene and LDO will be reduced by Rs. 3 and Rs.5 per litre respectively,” the ministry added.
Prices for the month of December will be as under:
Earlier on Thursday, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) recommended the government to increase the price of petrol by Rs6.21 per litre for December 2018 due to multiple rounds of rupee depreciation against the dollar.
The regulator had sent a summary to the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) for notifying revised prices for the month of December.
Ogra had proposed an increase of Rs6.21 per litre in petrol, Rs2.00 per litre in high speed diesel (HSD), Rs9.91 per litre in kerosene oil and Rs7.79 per litre in light diesel oil (LDO).
It may be added that OGRA works out the petroleum prices for a month on the basis of the prices of cargoes purchased for that particular month. The prices for December 2018 are accordingly based on the purchases made during the period from 10 October to 12 November, 2018. The average price of these cargoes remained $76.68/BBL for Petrol and $86.61 for HSD.
The government has substantially reduced the taxes/levies on petroleum products during the period September- November, 2018. During the month of November sales tax on MS Petrol and HS Diesel was 4.5% and 12% respectively, compared to 15% and 27.5% in May 2018, which means a reduction of 10.5% and 15.5% respectively. Similarly petroleum levy on MS Petrol and HS Diesel which was Rs.10 and Rs.8 per liter in May has been reduced to Rs.6.15 and Rs.6.51 respectively.
The international prices of crude oil are on a declining trajectory.
"The government intends to provide relief to the consumers in the determination of final consumer prices, while keeping in view the revenue requirements," the Ministry of Finance stated.
