The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet under the pressure of the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has fixed the profit margin of dealers at Rs 7.00 per liter for motor spirit (MS) and high-speed diesel (HSD).
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail chaired the meeting of ECC at the Finance Division on Thursday.
The Petroleum Division submitted a summary on the revision of OMCs and dealers’ margins on petroleum products. It was informed that the existing margins were fixed in December 2021 and Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association has approached the government for immediate revision of their margins due to inflation, increase in tariff salaries, and utility bills.
The committee after discussion approved the proposal to fix the margin of dealers at Rs. 7.00 per liter for motor spirit (MS) and high-speed diesel (HSD).
Sources said that the margins will remain effective till crude oil price remains within the band of $60-100/bbl, which could be revised with the approval of ECC in case the price fluctuates out of the band.
The PPDA had called for a nationwide strike starting from July 18 with the demand to raise their margins to 6 percent of the current selling price (effectively Rs. 13.81 per liter for MS and Rs. 14.16 per liter for HSD).
During negotiations with the government, PPDA adjusted their demand and asked that the margins may be increased to Rs. 9.23 and Rs. 9.46 per liter on MS and HSD respectively.
However, after intense negotiations, PPDA agreed to margins of Rs. 7.00 per liter for both MS and HSD and based on the agreement and the commitment that the revised margins will be made effective from August 2022. This agreed margin remains below the commitment made to the dealers in November 2021 (4.4 percent of sales price).
