20000321

Govt announces increase in PoL products prices

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Monday announced an average increase of five percent in the prices of petroleum products after a quarterly comparison with the sale price of the products in the international market, a government announcement said.

Maximum increase has been made in the price of High Speed Diesel which has swollen from Rs 11.50 to Rs 12.80 per liter. Prices of Regular and Super Petrol have recorded an increase of 50 paisa each and now would be sold at Rs 27.50 and Rs 29.50 respectively. Light Diesel Oil registered an increase of Rs 1.10. Furnace Oil prices increased to Rs 8,800 per tonne against the old price of Rs 8,377.75.

The government made the changes in the petroleum prices after three months as it had announced to review it every three months in the backdrop of international prices. Last raise was made in December when an average of 10 percent increase was recorded.

Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz had announced to review the prices of petroleum products in accordance with the automatic price adjustment mechanism. Furnace Oil rate was increased early this month in accordance with the government policy to review prices of the product on monthly basis.

Justifying an upward revision, a spokesman for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources stated that the petroleum products registered a "sharp" increase in the international market during the past three months. "The above change in the consumer price reflects the actual increase in the import price of the product compared to the last fixation," the spokesman added.

The official announcement stated that the government decided not to make any increase in the price of kerosene oil to give relief to the common man. The kerosene oil rate would remain to be Rs 11.25 per liter.

"The government is continuously monitoring the price of petroleum products in the international market and as soon as the prices drop, the benefit of reduction will be passed on to the consumers," the spokesman added.

New and old price comparasion is as follows:

PRODUCT OLD PRICE (Rs/Ltr) New PRICE (Rs/Ltr) increase

1- Petrol(Regular) 27.00 27.50 1.85%

2- Petrol (Super/Premium 29.00 29.50 1.72%

3- HOBC 32.00 32.50 1.56%

4- MTBE 38.77 39.27 1.29%

5- High Speed Diesel 11.50 12.80 11.30%

6- Light Diesel Oil 9.35 10.45 11.76%

7- JP-4 12.65 13.40 5.93%

8- Furnace Oil (Rs./Ton)8377.75 8800.00 5.04%