Hike In Petroleum Prices
21 July, 2008
The government on Sunday delivered another blow to the already hard-pressed masses in terms of increasing the petroleum prices by over 14 per cent besides jacking up the rates of the commoners’ fuel namely the kerosene oil and diesel.
This is the second increase in petrol prices in one month (July) and sixth time in five months. The PPP government had already increased the prices of the petroleum products by an average 10 per cent at the beginning of this month. Therefore, it has proven to be the second mini-budget in the first month of the new financial year less than a month after the announcement of the annual budget.
According to a notification issued by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), the tariffs of the Premium Motor Gasoline would go up from Rs 75.69 to Rs 86.66 per litre effective from July 21, 2008. Similarly, the light diesel price has gone up from Rs 49.05 to Rs 56.50 per litre indicating over 15 per cent increase. The heavy diesel price has been increased from Rs 55.15 to Rs 64.65 per litre. Moreover, the so-called common man’s fuel has also been jacked up from Rs 49.73 to Rs 58.37 per litre.
The OGRA notification has also pushed up the HOBC fuel price from Rs 88.85 to Rs 96.08 a litre. JP-1 went up from Rs 82.10 to Rs 90.36 per litre. JP-4 soared from Rs 76.79 to Rs 83.75 per litre and JP-8 edged up from Rs 87.99 in case of ex-PARCO to Rs 96.04 per litre while for other refineries it has gone up from Rs 85.35 to Rs 93.60 per litre.
In its announcement, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) said the increase had become “inevitable due to a record surge last fortnight in the international prices” and that the impact was “passed on partially” to the consumers.
It said the retail prices still carried a subsidy of Rs33.93 per litre on kerosene, Rs29.40 on light diesel and Rs35.42 per litre on high-speed diesel, although the government did not announce new HSD price.
The latest increase in the prices of the petroleum products would impact directly the living cost of the commoners as it would not only soar the common man’s fuel consequent upon the kerosene price-hike but would also fuel the transportation cost for the commuters.
Do you think Govt. should further subsidize the prices?
What other measures should Govt. take to keep the check on the prices of petroleum?
Is this rise in prices only because of the US international policies?
What role should Arab countries play to bring down the prices of Petroleum?
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