ISLAMABAD: With increased rate of petroleum levy, the government is estimated to raise the prices of petroleum products by up to 10 per cent effective from March 1.

A senior government official told Dawn that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Wednesday forwarded its calculations on petroleum prices to the government on the basis of increased rates of general sales tax and petroleum levy.

Based on revised tax rates and import parity price of Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Ogra has worked out about Rs9.44 per litre increase in the price of high speed diesel (HSD), Rs4.71 in petrol, Rs8.06 in kerosene and Rs5.12 in the price of light diesel oil (LDO).

As such, the ex-depot rate of HSD has been calculated at Rs116.12 per litre from about Rs106.68, showing an increase of 8.8pc.

Likewise, the petrol price has been proposed to go up to Rs95.09 per litre, from the existing rate of Rs90.38, up 5.2pc.

The price of kerosene oil has been proposed at Rs90.37 per litre instead of Rs82.31, showing an increase of 9.8pc. The ex-depot price of LDO has been worked out at Rs80.15 per litre instead of existing rate of Rs75.03pc litre, showing an increase of 6.8pc.

Last month, the government had increased general sales tax rate on all petroleum products to 17pc across the board to generate an additional revenue of about Rs11bn per month. Until Dec 31, 2018, the government was charging 0.5pc GST on LDO, 2pc on kerosene, 8pc on petrol and 13pc on HSD.

Besides the 17pc GST, the government has more than doubled the rate of petroleum levy on HSD to Rs18 per litre instead of Rs8, while levy on petrol had also been increased by 40pc to Rs14 instead of Rs10 per litre. The petroleum levy on kerosene oil and LDO remains unchanged at Rs6 and Rs3 per litre, respectively.

Over the last two months, the government has started increase petroleum levy rates because it remains in the federal kitty unlike GST that goes to the divisible pool taxes and thus about 57pc share is grabbed by the provinces.

The petrol and HSD are two major products that generate most of revenue for the government because of their massive and yet growing consumption in the country. Total HSD sales are touching 800,000 tonnes per month against monthly consumption of around 700,000 tonnes of petrol.

The sales of kerosene oil and LDO are generally less than 10,000 tonnes per month.

The petroleum prices have generally been on the rise since early 2017, apart from a couple of reductions. Over the last couple of weeks, the international benchmark - Brent prices - has slightly increased and the government has been mopping up tax rates in run up to finalisation of an IMF assisted stabilisation programme.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2019