The federal government has decided to maintain the petroleum levy on petrol and diesel and issued an official notification confirming the rates, according to the Ministry of Energy.
Under the notification, the levy on petrol will remain at PKR 105.37 per liter, while the levy on diesel will remain PKR 55.24 per liter.
The government has also decided to keep petrol and diesel prices unchanged and will pay PKR 23 billion in subsidies to offset the difference, the ministry said.
The subsidy will be paid to oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the form of price differential claims.
According to the Ministry of Energy, the PKR 23 billion subsidy will cover the period from March 14 to March 20. During this period, the government will provide a subsidy of PKR 49.63 per liter on petrol and PKR 75.05 per liter on diesel.
The ministry also said the federal cabinet has approved the establishment of a “Prime Minister’s Austerity Fund”.
The Cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee approved the transfer of PKR 27.1 billion to the fund, of which PKR 23 billion will be transferred to the Oil and Gas Authority for the payment of the price differential claims.
The payment mechanism will include verification and auditing of bills submitted by oil marketing companies, the ministry said. In this regard, the Director General (Oil) has also written a letter to OGRA.
Separately, the government has increased the price of kerosene oil by PKR 39.20 per liter, according to an OGRA notification.
The new price of kerosene has been set at PKR 358.01 per liter, up from the previous price of PKR 318.81 per liter.
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