ISLAMABAD - Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Tuesday recommended an increase of Rs10.25 per litre in the price of high speed diesel (HSD) and Rs 2.98 in the rate of petrol for the month of February 2018.
According to a working paper moved to the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) and the Ministry of Finance, Ogra has recommended an increase of up to 20.1 percent in the prices of different petroleum products, it was learnt reliably here.
In the working paper, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority recommended an increase of Rs2.98 per litre or 3.7 percent in price of petrol and Rs 10.25 per litre or 11.4 percent in the price of high speed diesel. Similarly, the regulator also proposed an increase of Rs12.74 per litre in the price of superior kerosene oil (SKO) and Rs11.72 per litre in the price of light diesel oil (LDO), which meant a hike of 19.8 percent and 20.1 percent per litre respectively.
OGRA has sent a summary to the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division). Petroleum division would then forward it to the Finance Ministry and Prime Minister’s house for final decision. The government will decide and announce its decision on the prices on Wednesday (today).
If the government approves the recommendation, petrol price will go up to Rs84.51/litre from the current 81.53/litre and diesel price will jump up to Rs100.16/litre from current level of Rs89.91/litre. The prices of SKO will go up to Rs 77.06 per litre from the existing Rs 64.32 per litre and the light diesel Oil (LDO) will go up to Rs 70.09 from existing Rs 58.37 per litre.
Against the standard rate of 17 percent general sales tax (GST), currently the government is charging 31 percent GST on high speed diesel (HSD) and 17 per cent on other petroleum products including petrol, kerosene oil and LDO. In addition to GST, government was charging highest rates of Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) from the consumers. Currently, the consumers are paying Rs 10 per litre petroleum development levy on petrol, Rs 8 on HSD, Rs 6 per litre on kerosene oil and Rs 3 per litre on LDO.