Skip to main content

Government undecided on fuel rates

ISLAMABAD: The government is in a fix over the issue of changes in oil prices due to falling international market and its changing strategy to start mopping up revenues to finance the growing fiscal deficit.

Informed sources said the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has put up two positions to the government.

Under the first option based on existing tax rates, it has worked out Rs9 and Rs4.50 per litre reduction in the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD), respectively for December to pass on to consumers the benefit of lower international market.

The second option is based on written orders of the Federal Board of Revenue that seeks full application of petroleum levy and 17 per cent sales tax to meet its Rs70 billion revenue shortfall in 4MFY19. Under this, the petrol price has been worked out to increase by Rs6.15 per litre and HSD by Rs2 per litre.

He said the government was, however, not sure about the issue because of domestic political considerations and the need to build relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package.

Over the last few weeks, international benchmark Brent prices have tumbled by almost 15pc to less than $60, but the IMF is reported to have advised the authorities to raise taxes to create buffers.

According to the official, Finance Minister Asad Umar was likely to adopt a middle ground by keeping the prices unchanged and yet generating higher revenues than previous months.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2018



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/2TZZS4E
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IT ministry forms panel to review social media rules

ISLAMABAD: While uproar against the new rules to regulate social media continues from various segments of society, including parliamentarians, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and civil society, the information technology ministry on Friday formed a committee to review the rules. The federal cabinet approved the rules on Feb 11, but later after opposition from various quarters, including companies that manage different social media platforms, the prime minister announced that a fresh consultation process would be launched over the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020. The committee formed by the IT ministry is headed by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Amir Azeem Bajwa while its members are Eazaz Aslam Dar, additional secretary of IT; Tania Aidrus, member of the Strategic Reforms Imple­mentation Unit, Prime Minister Office; and Dr Arslan Khalid, focal person on digital media at the PM Office. Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Ma
Post a Comment
Read more

Young girl’s tragic story makes her symbol of Yemen war

Buthaina Mansur al-Rimi’s life has changed drastically since last year — orphaned in Sanaa, the little girl controversially ended up in Saudi Arabia for medical care and has just returned to Yemen’s capital. Her entire immediate family was wiped out in an air strike by a Saudi-led coalition that backs Yemen’s government, using an explosive device Amnesty International says was made in the US. Images of Buthaina’s rescue and a picture of her swollen and bruised at a hospital trying to force open one of her eyes with her fingers were beamed worldwide. That international fame saw her become something of a propaganda pawn in the war between Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels and Saudi media. “I was in my mother’s room with my father, sisters, brother and uncle, the first missile hit, and my father went to get us sugar to get over the shock, but then the second missile hit, and then the third,” she says. “And then the house fell,” adds the little girl, who says she is eight. It was the
Post a Comment
Read more