• Latest news about petrol price in Pakistan suggests rates to drop.
• Diesel price expected to drop by Rs16.61 per litre, light diesel Rs10.87.
• Govt apparently not in mood to raise petrol price, say oil industry officials.

KARACHI: The price of petrol in Pakistan may decrease by Rs7.24 per litre and diesel by Rs16.61 per litre in the next fortnightly review if the government passes on the impact of the retreating global market by not raising taxation, latest news about the rates suggest.

Oil industry data shows that all petroleum prices are showing a declining trend; however, it is not clear if the government will pass on the impact or offset it by raising taxation.

Industry calculations show that the ex-depot price of petrol has registered a Rs7.24 per litre decrease to Rs230.19 per litre for the next fortnight compared to the existing price of Rs237.43 per litre, The News reported.

The ex-depot price of diesel has decreased by Rs16.61 to Rs230.82 per litre for the next fortnight compared to the current price of Rs247.43 per litre.

The ex-depot price of light diesel reduced by Rs10.87 to Rs186.41 per litre for the upcoming fortnight compared to Rs197.28 per litre now.

The ex-depot price of kerosene declined by Rs14.20 to Rs187.82 per litre against Rs197.28 per litre currently.

The prices calculated by the oil industry are based on the existing taxation by the government.

The government is charging zero general sales tax (GST) on petroleum products where the rate of petroleum levy (PL) on petrol is Rs37.42 and on diesel Rs7.58 per litre.

Under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions, the government has to raise the levy to Rs50 per litre on diesel and petrol to generate additional revenue to achieve the tax collection target for this fiscal.

According to the oil sector officials, the government apparently is not in a mood to increase the petroleum prices by raising the rate of levy or re-imposing GST after Ishaq Dar takes the help of the Finance Ministry.

“It seems that Dar would not be raising the price of petroleum products, at least for this fortnight to send out a message about his plan to provide relief to the masses as he had pledged to do so before taking the charge of the finance ministry,” a top oil firm official believed.

He said that Dar might pass the impact of the global downtrend or he could also decide to stick with the same if global markets further eased in the coming review of prices.

According to him, the average price of crude oil was around 91 dollars per barrel from September 16 to 28, whereas average prices of diesel and petrol were $115 and $81 per barrel respectively in the global market.