According to a notification issued by the Finance Division, the price of petrol and high-speed diesel(HSD) will rise by Rs4 per litre for the first 15 days of January 2022.
After the increase, the price of petrol will go up from the previous Rs140.82 per litre to Rs144.82 per litre, while the price of high-speed diesel will jump to Rs141.62 per litre from the previous Rs137.62 per litre.
On December 15, the government had approved partial relief to the oil consumers and reduced the rates of petrol and high-speed diesel by Rs5 per litre in line with declining oil prices.
The Ogra had proposed a reduction in prices of petroleum products by Rs8 to 10 per litre and recommended Rs10.77 and Rs7.73 per litre reduction in the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD), respectively.
But the Finance Ministry in a statement said that Prime Minister Imran Khan rejected the Ograsummary. However, it said that the prime minister advised increasing the price of petroleum products up to Rs4 per litre in order to meet the target of the petroleum levy agreed with IMF.
Finance Ministry further said that sales tax on petrol and diesel had already been adjusted downwards compared to December 16 to keep the oil prices lower.
Consumers in Punjab were already using imported gas. The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) had also suspended gas supply to CNG stations in Sindh and Balochistan.
HSD has widely used in the transport and farm sectors. Kerosene oil is used in remote areas for cooking where LPG is unavailable. LDO is used in industries.
All this is happening to meet the petroleum levy target agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Of course, the government has agreed with the IMF for a net fiscal adjustment of nearly Rs550 billion during the remaining part of the current fiscal year. That means that, for the next six months, the government will be dropping similar bomb shells of higher prices regularly. If there has to be some fiscal adjustment, it must be the result of an economic policy that is pro-peopleIf the government has to implement a so-called ‘austerity plan’ for the revival of the six-billion-dollar package from the IMF, this plan must take into consideration the hardships such a plan will inflict on common people.
There are certain points here that deserve comments. First, after three and half years in power how could the government be in such an economic state that it had to make a commitment that would directly affect the common people? Of course, the government has agreed with the IMF for a net fiscal adjustment of nearly Rs550 billion during the remaining part of the current fiscal year. That means that, for the next six months, the government will be dropping similar bomb shells of higher prices regularly. If there has to be some fiscal adjustment, it must be the result of an economic policy that is pro-peopleIf the government has to implement a so-called ‘austerity plan’ for the revival of the six-billion-dollar package from the IMF, this plan must take into consideration the hardships such a plan will inflict on common people.
The price of petrol has been increased from Rs140.8 to Rs144.8, and this is just the first increase of the year. That means by the end of this fiscal year there could well be an overall increase of at least Rs24 in the prices of petrol taking it to a staggering level of Rs170 a litre.
