ISLAMABAD – After facing massive surge in prices of petroleum products and LPG, the masses on Saturday has faced another setback as prices of all CNGs in Punjab and Sindh running on imported RLNG have gone up immediately.
According to details, gas consumed by Sindh and Punjab CNG stations is imported and increase in exchange rate of dollar has fuelled the increase. CNG price in Sindh rose by Rs15 per kg to Rs184 per kg while in Punjab Rs8 increase is surged the price to Rs123.40 per kg. “This increase in prices is due to the increase in sales tax and expensive purchase of spot market. This is due to the appreciation of the dollar,” said All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) leader Ghiyas Paracha.
“We demand from the government that like petrol and LPG, the sales tax on LNG imports should be reduced immediately and the fuel of the poor should be made cheaper,” he added. All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) delegation had met Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Fayyaz Ahmed Tarin in last week. They demanded reduction in sales tax and customs duties on import of LNG by the CNG sector because it was the only sector that was paying the full import price along with taxes while all other sectors were paying subsidised gas and LNG rates.
CPI escalated to 9pc in Sept from 8.4pc in August this year
Earlier, in the outgoing week, the government had increased almost all the petroleum products prices and LPG. The government has enhanced the petrol by Rs 4 per litre, High Speed Diesel (HSD) by Rs 2 per litre, kerosene oil by Rs 7.05 per litre and Light Diesel Oil (LDO) by Rs 8.82 per litre for the first fortnightly of October. Similarly, the LPG prices are also hiked to record all-time high as the government has increased its price by Rs 344 from the existing Rs 2,060 to Rs 2,403 for 11.8 kg cylinder for the month of October.
Economic experts believed that inflation would fuel in the months to come mainly due to currency depreciation and increase in oil and gas prices. They expressed fear that inflation might enter into double digits in next couple of months. Inflation measures through Consumer Price Index (CPI) has already started upward journey as it went up to 9 percent in September from 8.4 percent in August this year. They noted that it might be challenging for the government to restrict the inflation in the single target in current fiscal year if oil prices continue to increase.
It is worth mentioning here that Ministry of Finance had already warned that higher international commodity prices, particularly those of food and energy, could increase inflation and has called for structural policies to improve functioning of markets to ease inflationary pressures.
“The risks that could raise inflation include higher trend in global commodity prices, especially food and energy items,” said the Economic Adviser’s Wing in its Monthly Economic Update & Outlook (MEUO) for September. It added that Pakistan’s inflation rate is mainly driven by the demand factors as well as international commodity prices, exchange rate, seasonal factors and economic agents’ expectations concerning the future developments of these indicators.