ISLAMABAD - The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) yesterday recommended the government up to 9.22 percent increase in the prices of petroleum (PoL) products, it was learnt reliably.
The Ogra on Monday sent a summary to petroleum and finance ministries suggesting an increase in prices of petroleum products for the month of June.
According to sources, Ogra has proposed an increase of 1.32 percent or Rs 0.85 per litre in the price of petrol.
According to the summary, an increase of 9.22 percent or Rs 6.69 per litre in the price of high speed diesel, hike of 9.17 percent or Rs 3.77 per litre in kerosene and increase of 2.99 percent or Rs 2.18 per litre in high octane blended oil (HOBC) has been suggested.
The new petroleum prices will be announced after consultation with the prime minister. The new prices will be effective from June 1, 2016.
If the prices, recommended by Ogra, are approved, the petrol will be selling at Rs65.12 per litre, high speed diesel will be selling to Rs 79.21 and kerosene oil will be sold at Rs 47.22 per litre. Similarly, the new increased price of high octane will be Rs74.86 per litre.Ogra has also requested an increase of Rs4.47 per litre for light diesel oil.
It merits mentioning here that recommendations sent by Ogra for the month of May was rejected by the prime minister. At a public rally, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced his decision and said, “We will have to face a deficit of Rs 18 billion but would not raise prices,”. Following prime minister’s announcement of not increasing the prices of petroleum products, the government had cut general sales tax (GST) on different POL products.
According to the decision, the GST on petrol was cut from Rs 14.48 to Rs 12.89 per litre for May. GST on HOBC was reduced to Rs 13.90 from the previous Rs 18.57 per litre, on light diesel to Rs 4.72 from Rs 9.63 per litre while no change was made in the GST on high speed diesel and it remained at Rs 29.57 per litre. General Sales Tax on Kerosene oil was reduced to Rs 4.76 from Rs 10.40 per litre.