KARACHI: Inflation-weary people are likely to experience a heavy jolt ahead of Eid ul Fitr as petrol price is likely to go up by Rs10-14 per litre from tomorrow (April 16), local media reported on Saturday.
Quoting the industry sources, they said that the government may hike the price of petroleum products due to rising prices in global markets. The hike can be up to Rs14 per litre if the authorities also adjusts the exchange rate losses, for the next fortnight, unlike the previous review when it didn’t pass on the impact of rupee devaluation to the masses.
The ex-depot price of petrol has clocked in at Rs14.77 per litre for the next review of the prices with the exchange rate losses adjustment. The current ex-depot petrol price is Rs272 per litre, which may touch Rs286.77 per litre if the authorities decide to pass on the impact of increase in global oil prices and exchange rate losses, according to the media reports.
Even if the government skips adjusting the exchange losses, the petrol price would still go up because of higher prices in global market. The expected hike in petrol price is based on the present rate of taxes.
It is to mention here that at present, the government is charging Rs50 per litre levy on petrol with zero general sales tax (GST). The expected hike in the petrol price is based on an Rs5 per litre exchange loss adjustment of Pakistan State Oil, which is due to the government as it didn’t include the exchange rate adjustments in the previous months to keep the prices of the petrol down.
The petroleum prices would have been on the higher side after a massive depreciation of Pakistani rupee against US dollar in the last two and half months when under the IMF conditions, the market-based exchange rate was allowed.
Diesel price likely to remain unchanged
On the other hand, the high-speed diesel price is expected to remain unchanged in the next review of prices as the current ex-depot price of the commodity is also the same compared to the working for the next fortnightly price of HSD. The next review of the high-speed diesel price and its likely unchanged price is based on Rs17.50 exchange loss adjustment of Pakistan State Oil, which was also pending when US dollar price shoot up massively in the last many weeks.
“The price of diesel may come down by Rs15 per litre if the authorities doesn’t adjust the exchange rate loss”, according to the sources.
The federal government raised the petroleum levy on diesel to Rs50 per litre under the IMF conditions in the last review of prices and charging no general sales tax on it. According to the sources, in the present scenario, Pakistani government has no option but to raise the petrol price as its financial space has already squeezed.
