ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Friday said the prices of petroleum products will likely to be increased in the coming month as talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) continue over the stabilisation of revenue collection.
Talking on ‘Naya Pakistan’ programme, he said the petroleum levy would be increased up to Rs600 billion in the coming fiscal year so the levy will have to be jacked up in the range of Rs20 to Rs25 per litre, while currently Rs5 per litre levy was being charged.
When asked whether Pakistan will pull out of the IMF programme if the Fund rejects the proposals and sticks to its demands, the finance minister said Pakistan will not exit, adding that the Fund had asked Pakistan to present its budget so negotiations will continue.
He said Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide oil on deferred payments, but it could not be ascertained how much oil Pakistan will get.
While responding to a question about the negotiations, he said they had conveyed to the IMF that it should not be their problem on how the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) meets the set revenue collection target of Rs5.829 trillion.
A deadlock persisted between the two sides over different issues, including fixation of petroleum levy, FBR’s tax collection target and assessment of elimination of tax exemption, an exact timeframe to hike the power and gas tariffs and autonomy to regulators such as SBP and Nepra with approval of Parliament.
Earlier, the Federal government had announced to lower sales tax on petroleum products.
According to a notification issued today, the sales tax on Kerosene oil was lowered to 10.07% against the previously charged tax of 15.44%. The sales tax on light diesel was lowered to 3.67% from 7.56%.