Islamabad : In a bid to give relief to the lower income group of the society and pass on burden of massive increase in the prices of petroleum products, the government has decided to enhance levy on hi octane by Rs 200 per liter.
The decision was taken here in a meeting chaired by prime minister , Shahbaz Sharif . The massive increase in hi octane prices is going to push up its rates to over Rs 534 per liter.
The official hand out issued on the outcome of Sunday’s high level meeting said the government will get Rs 9 billion extra revenue from the increase in levy on hi octane fuel.
It added that the revenue collected from the increase olin levy on hi octane will be used for providing relief to low income group on buying of petrol.
The government is under huge pressure due to unprecedented increase in the oil prices in the international market following US -Israel war on Iran. The decision-makers are grabbing in the dark for finding some openings to off – set at least some burden falling on the low income group and Sunday”s decision to scale up levy on hi octane from Rs 100 to Rs 300 a litre was in the same context.
But the decision may not yield desired result for the government as the affluent may switch over to other fuels rather than buying costly hi octane as long as ME crisis persists.
The government had increased the prices of kerosene , diesel and petrol soon after breaking out of ME war , but in a cunning move, the decision-makers kept hi octane out of the surge and hence protected high income group of the society. On getting the information of keeping affluent out of fuel prices’ increase , the prime minister took its serious notice and summoned a meeting on Sunday to increase levy on hi octane to force affluent to share lion share of increase in the prices of petroleum products.
The official announcement made after the meeting said affluent must pay more than low or middle class to share burden of rising fuel prices in the international market. It also added that the increase in hi octane fuel will have no impact on transport or air travel fares.
Since breakout of ME some four weeks ago , brent prices have gone up from $ 60 to around $ 115 per barrel. This impact has put the fragile economies like Pakistan in very serious crisis.