PATROL.............JUST LIKE GOLD

ISLAMABAD: The government has increased the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene by huge margins, according to a notification issued here on Tuesday.Petrol (Motor Spirit) price has been jacked up by Rs 5.92 per litre, HOBC Rs 8.50 per litre, kerosene oil Rs 7.48 per litre, Light Diesel Oil Rs 6.94 and High Speed Diesel by Rs 6.94 per litre.However, the government has reduced the gas price by two per cent for the first six slabs of domestic consumers and 4.46 per cent for industrial consumers, independent power producers (IPPs) and captive powerhouses. The CNG price remains unchanged.The agriculture input cost will go up as the government has increased the gas price by 6.1 per cent for the Pak-Arab fertilizers and the Dawood Hercules fertilizers and 7.63 per cent for the Fauji fertilizers and the Engro chemicals. The gas price has been, however, reduced by 4.46 per cent in direct sales from Kandhkot, Sara Suri, and Guddu to the Wapda.In percentage terms, the increases in POL prices range between 10.5 per cent and 14.5 per cent. Secretary Finance Salman Siddique told The News that the end consumers would now bear the full impact of the upward fluctuation of 15 to 22 per cent in international prices registered during May 29 and the last week of June.He said that the decision to pass the full impact of upward and downward fluctuation in international POL prices on to the end consumers had basically been taken under the government’s own policy statement that it had issued on October 2008. He, however, conceded that this had also been the demand of the donor agencies and the IMF. But he dispelled the impression that the decision had been taken under pressure of the IFIs.He admitted that when the POL prices get increased, the people face the heat of inflation, but when the prices go down, the required relief is not passed on to them. After the enforcement of new prices, per litre petrol price, including all costs, would be Rs 43.56 and the government taxes applicable on it would be Rs 18.57 per litre, which is 43 per cent of the petrol price.