Staff Reporter
Islamabad
President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) Ahmed Hassan Moughal has said that the government should pass on the full benefit of reduced oil prices to the people as the price of crude oil in international market has witnessed around 29 percent reduction from September 2018 to September 2019 but the government has made insufficient cut in petroleum prices from 1st September 2019 that was not a right approach. In a statement issued here on Tuesday, Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that the PTI government increased the POL prices twice during 2019, but provided slight relief to the people by making a meager cut in POL prices for September. He said that crude oil price in September 2018 was $78/barrel that has come down to below $55/barrel showing a reduction of around 29 percent. Therefore, he stressed that government should reduce POL prices in proportion to the fall of crude oil price in the international market to pass on full benefit of reduced prices to the people. The President ICCI said that government has made petroleum products an important source of tax revenue collection as it was currently receiving 17 percent GST on all POL products besides charging petroleum levy of Rs.14 per litre on petrol, Rs.18 per litre on HSD, Rs.3 per litre on kerosene and Rs.6 per litre on LDO, which was unjustified.
