ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) recommended to the government on Friday to bring down general sales tax on diesel to normal 17 per cent and make adjustments in petroleum levy on other products to prevent a surge in prices ahead of Ramazan.

The government is currently charging about 34pc GST on high speed diesel (HSD) and 2pc regulatory duty on its import and maximum petroleum levy on all products.

“Historic trend suggests that transporters and traders take undue advantage of increase in petroleum products to jack up their profits. With Ramazan almost two weeks from now, it will be advisable to continue with the policy of oil price stability the government has been following for four months,” an Ogra official said.

Also read: Ogra suggests cut in petrol, diesel prices

According to a government official, the prime minister has disagreed with a proposal of the petroleum ministry to raise gas price made early this week.

In a summary sent to the ministries of petroleum and natural resources and finance, Ogra said that unless tax adjustments were made, prices of all petroleum products would go up by Rs6.20 to Rs13.25 per litre next month based on oil purchases made by the state-run Pakistan State Oil.

The finance ministry has been increasing the GST rate on various products, in some cases to the level of 37pc, to maintain price stability and earn higher revenue.

Based on the existing tax rates and PSO purchases from the international market, Ogra worked out an increase of Rs6.19 per litre in the price of petrol, Rs7.91 in HSD, Rs13.25 in high octane blending component (HOBC), Rs7.62 in light diesel oil (LDO) and Rs6.53 in kerosene for June.

As such, the ex-depot price of petrol has been estimated at Rs80.48 per litre for the next month, an increase of 8.33pc on the current rate of Rs74.29, and for HSD at Rs91.52, an increase of 9.46pc on Rs83.61.

The price of kerosene has been estimated to go up by 10.62pc to Rs67.97 per litre, LDO by 13.15pc to Rs65.56 and HOBC by 17.11pc to Rs90.65.

Over the past few months, the government has been changing the rate of GST and petroleum levy to increase revenue collection as international prices continued to decline.

Apart from Rs6 to Rs14 per litre petroleum levy, the government is also charging up to 34pc GST on prices of all oil products.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2015

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