Prime Minister Imran Khan has turned down a proposal by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority for an increase in fuel prices, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill said on Sunday.
In a tweet, he shared a picture of Ogra's proposed prices and said: "Ogra proposed to increase the price of petroleum products from about Rs6-7 per litre. Prime Minister Imran Khan did not accept this proposal. There has been no increase in the prices of petroleum products. Despite the continuous rise in the prices of petroleum products in the world market, the prime minister did not allow it."
According to the document shared by Gill, the Ogra had made the following suggestions:
Petrol: Rs118.12 after an increase of Rs6.22
High speed diesel: Rs122.90 after an increase of Rs6.82
Kerosene: Rs86.56 after an increase of Rs 6.37
Light diesel oil: Rs79.23 after an increase of Rs5.78
The prices would have been effective from March 1. For the next 15 days, the prices of petroleum products will remain the same.
Ogra had proposed an increase in prices earlier this month as well, but the prime minister had turned it down. The decision had come as a break from continuous price increases for the previous five consecutive fortnights. This was despite an increase in international oil prices over the last 15 days.
Over the last many months, the government has been tweaking with petroleum levy rates instead of GST as levy remains in the federal kitty while GST goes to the divisible pool taxes and thus about 57pc share is grabbed by the provinces.
