No petrol relief
Despite a steep fall in international oil prices, there has been no relief for the masses in the country from the unbearably high prices of petroleum products. Local media was abuzz with reports of "good news coming up" in the form of a significant cut – of around Rs10 per litre – in the rate of petrol.
But the official announcement after the fortnightly government review brought nothing but disappointment, as no relief was passed on to the consumers and the prices of all petroleum products were kept unchanged.
Rather, the federal cabinet approved an amendment to the Petroleum Products (Petroleum Levy) Ordinance, 1961, effectively removing any upper limit previously imposed on the levy. In March and April, the government has already raised the levy from Rs60 to Rs80, with former finance minister Miftah Ismail calling it a "mini-budget that earned the government Rs34 billion each month in tax revenue".
The justification that the Prime Minister has come up with on denying petrol price relief to the masses is nothing but bogus: that the money so saved would fund development in Balochistan, precisely to upgrade N-25 Highway that links Chaman to Karachi via Quetta, Kalat and Khuzdar, and to complete Kachhi Canal Phase-2 to irrigate land in Balochistan.
This justification is rather misleading given that the federal government could have conveniently fund the said projects from the PSDP whose Rs1,100 billion allocation has only been utilised by less than 30 per cent in the first eight months of the ongoing fiscal year. Moreover, Bolochistan itself enjoy a surplus of approximately Rs450 billion.
What appears to be the case is that the federal government is in for a shortfall in its revenue collection for the ongoing fiscal year, and is in fact trying to cut it to as low as possible by employing discreet revenue enhancing measures. Let's keep an eye on whether or not the two mentioned Balochistan projects see the light of day within two years. Well, Miftah believes they will not!
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