LAHORE – Pakistan’s government is likely to make legislation to increase petrol Development Levy (PDL) in the next budget as International Monetary Fund (IMF) has demanded the cash strapped nation to increase Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) worth Rs. 20 per liter on Petroleum products but it is to recall that the Pakistan government is already receiving Rs. 50 in this regard.
IMF authorities want to increase PDL by Rs. 20 per liter to achieve the revenue target of Rs. 800 billion. Earlier, Pakistan government fixed its target of Rs. 855 billion during the fiscal year of 2022-2023 but it could not be achieved over the fiscal year. Now IMF is putting conditions that in order to achieve the target of the PDL, its levy ratio should be increased.
In the next fiscal budget of 2023-24, the budget deficit could be around Rs. 6.5 billion which would be more than 7 percent of GDP. Sources are of the view that by increasing the levy on petroleum products PDL total ratio could touch Rs. 60 70 per liter and by doing so the government would try to decrease the budget deficit of 2023-24.
The federal government announced a reduction in the prices of petroleum products on Wednesday, in another bid to pass on relief to the people.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced the price of petrol was slashed by Rs8 per litre, diesel by Rs5 per litre, and kerosene oil remained unchanged. The price cut takes effect from Thursday for the next fortnight.
With new updates, the price of petrol comes down from Rs270 to Rs262 per litre. The Price of High-Speed Diesel (HSD) has been reduced to Rs. 253.00 per litre, the Price of Light Diesel Oil (LDO) will now be Rs. Rs. 147.68 per litre.
