Increase in prices of petroleum products and common Pakistanis

Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has announced an increase of Rs 35 per liter in the price of diesel and petrol across the country. His announcement has pushed the starving people into deep darkness of despair. There was a possibility, but this decision was implemented on 29 January. The finance minister says that there was a shortage of petroleum products in different parts of the country for a few days. In order to end this shortage, Ogra suggested that the increase in prices should be announced immediately. The government says that there is no shortage of oil in the country. The question is that if there is no shortage, then the government should make it clear.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar argues that the prices of petroleum products have not been increased even once during the last four months, while the prices have increased by 11% in the global market. The price of kerosene was increased by Rs. 11 and the price of light diesel was increased by about Rs. 10. Earlier on August 15, the federal government increased the price of petrol by Rs. 6 and 72 paise per liter. On September 20, 2022, the government once again increased the price of petrol, after this increase, the price per liter became 237.43 rupees. The details released by OGRA indicate that every 15 days the power to increase or decrease the prices of petroleum products lies with oil refineries and oil marketing companies. Oil refineries collect data from the Arab Gulf International Market for the last 15 days. The import price is converted into rupees per barrel by averaging the dollar price. After that, the price per liter is determined in proportion to the products that come out of the crude oil in the refining process.

PDM replaced PTI after April 2022. PDM gave responsibility for financial and economic policies to Miftah Ismail. By hiding this, the government started telling that the PTI government sunk the raft of the economy. In response to how the raft sunk, it was said that the Imran government did not allow the petroleum prices to increase artificially. When the no-confidence motion was being moved against the former government, the threats to the economy were pointed out. Similar concerns were being expressed by analysts. For the PDM leadership and its supporters, perhaps from the state most of them were interested in their own interests, so these concerns were not heeded. The fact is that as soon as PDM came to power, the prices of petroleum products reached record high levels. Only in October and November the prices were not reduced. The reason for this was the fear of public reaction to the rampant inflation in the country.

Three days ago, the IMF expressed disappointment over the financial and economic performance of the government and asked to increase the tax revenue. The IMF demanded that the government when until the levy on petroleum products is not 50 rupees per liter, it will be difficult to achieve the tax targets. Thus, during the ongoing economic crisis, the political and administrative capacity of the Muslim League-N and its allied parties has been exposed many times, but bowing down to the oil marketing companies and petrol pump owners is a sign of the government's administrative grip being weak. Cartelization is legally prohibited. In this case it is clear that the petrol pump owners and the oil companies acted as a cartel and therefore action against them is necessary. Tehreek-e-Insaaf and Jamaat-e-Islami have condemned the skyrocketing oil prices, but the lives of those who are already neglected by the governments have become more difficult. A new inflationary storm is coming. Every decision and everything is related to the economy and social peace. The increase in the prices of petroleum products is a sign of the decline in government efficiency. The common man has already started to perceive the government as an exploitative force. By increasing the prices of petroleum products, the government has proved that the lower classes are not important in its priorities.