FINALLY there is some good news as some relief has been granted to the people in the form of reduction in prices of petroleum prices. The Finance Division on Saturday notified new prices of petroleum products, which have been moved down 5.8 per cent for the month of September owing to decline in prices in international market. As per official statement, purchasing price of petrol has been reduced by Rs 4.59 per litre to Rs 113.24 per litre and high-speed diesel by Rs 5.33 per litre to Rs 127.14 per litre.
Indeed whenever the prices of petroleum products go up or down these have an impact on daily life of the people. Over past few months, prices were being raised due to multiple reasons especially depreciation of rupee. However, oil prices are now trading down in the international market due to softening global demand as an economic slowdown looms and uncertainty prevails on the US-China trade front and these are predicted to remain on the lower side in next one and a half years. This certainly is good news for a country like Pakistan that is heavily dependent on imported fuel. We are confident that benefit of this decrease in prices will be fully passed on to the masses as it will go a long way in checking ever rising inflation. Undoubtedly, government is faced with challenges on economic front and has set a mammoth target of revenue collection but it should not go for upward revision of taxes including Sales Tax on petroleum prices if the global prices go further down as during 2015-16 when oil prices were trading the lowest, the government had opted to fix the sales tax on HSD at 71%. It goes to the credit of present government that it brought sales tax down to seventeen percent and it needs to be maintained at the current level. While fixing the economy, the masses should not be overburdened, as it will also have a political cost for the PTI.
