ISLAMABAD (Dec 16) – Federal government made recommended Rs 2.92 per litre raise in petrol price in inland freight equalisation margin (IFEM) to mitigate the impact on general masses in petroleum products review commencing from December 16.
On Sunday government decided to keep the price of petrol unchanged and reduced prices of high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs 3.05 per litre, kerosene oil by Rs 3.32 per litre and light diesel oil (LDO) by Rs 2.78 per litre.
Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on December 15 recommended to raise petrol rate for second half of December, however, government decided to keep the rate unchanged by reducing IFEM from Rs 7.92 per litre to Rs 5 per litre. Similarly, exchange rate adjustment of Rs 1.19 per litre was made alongwith Rs 1.73 per litre raise in avg of Platts with incidentals & duty.
On HSD, Rs 3.05 per litre reduction has been passed on to end consumers. Averate of Platts with incidentals & duty has reduced by Rs 2.35 per litre from Rs 176.76 to Rs 174.41 per litre, PSO exchange rate adjustment was zero from 95 paisa allowed in last fortnight (Dec 1-15). IFEM was increased by 3 paisa from Rs 4.15 per litre to Rs .18 per litre.
The Executive Committee of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) had directed the Petroleum Division to devise a way forward to kickstart $5-6 billion worth of upgrade projects for local refineries.
The forum further decided to raise the IFEM by Rsb2.5 per litre on petrol, HSD, kerosene, and LDO. The objective was to shift additional revenue to ESCROW accounts, allowing refineries to utilise the funds for their upgradation. ends
