PM announces reduction in POL prices

Published January 31, 2015
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. — AFP/File
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. — AFP/File

LAHORE: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday announced that per litre price of petroleum has been further slashed by Rs7.99, with the new at Rs70.29 per litre now.

With the new reduction in petrol prices, petroleum will now be cheaper than Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), the price of which stands at Rs76.35 for region I (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and the Potohar zone including Rawalpindi and Islamabad) and Rs71.50 per kg for region II (Sindh and Punjab excluding the Potohar zone).

The current price of petrol is 78.28 per litre.

Read: Fuel, power shortage looms as oil stocks plummet

Addressing a press conference here, he said petrol prices are being reduced by Rs7.99 per litre, HBOC Rs11.82 per litre, kerosene oil Rs10.48, light diesel oil Rs9.56 and high diesel oil by Rs5.62 per litre.

The per litre price of High Octane Blending Component (HOBC) has come down from Rs92 to Rs80.18.

The price of High Speed Diesel (HSD), which is widely used in heavy vehicles and the agriculture sector, has been slashed by Rs5.62 per litre bringing its price down to Rs80.61 per litre from Rs86.23 per litre.

The price of light diesel oil was cut down from Rs67.5 per litre to Rs Rs57.94 per litre.

The price of Kerosene oil, which is used as kitchen fuel in remote areas of the country, came down to Rs61.44 per litre from Rs71.92 per litre.

Also read: Record petrol imports in Jan

"Farmers will receive a benefit of thousands of rupees as a result of the price cut," the premier said to reporters in Lahore, adding that the provinces have been instructed to bring down transport fares in accordance with the new fuel prices.

"I want the people to receive not just cheap petrol but cheaper electricity as well," Sharif further said.

The premier announced the revised petrol price will take effect from Feb 1 (tomorrow).

The government on Saturday issued a notification for a five per cent increase in the General Sales Tax (GST) on petroleum products from 22 per cent from 27 per cent.

It is pertinent to mention here that crude oil prices have drastically fallen down in the international market since late June, and now it stands at $47 per barrel.

Also read: Anatomy of the petrol crisis

This is the second reduction in POL prices in the past two months. A petrol crises had emerged in the country after the previous price cut which had resulted in an increase in petroleum demand in early January.

The price cut and increase in demand, both, were unprecedented as well as unforeseen, and were the root cause of petrol shortage in many areas of the country especially in northern Punjab and some parts of KP.

Also read: Petrol crisis deepens, spills over to Karachi

The shortage had prompted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to cancel all his official engagements to focus on the fuel crisis.

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