A spokesman for the Oil Marketing Association said subsidies on petroleum products would further affect the country’s economy.
According to details, Chairman Oil Marketing Association Tariq Wazir Ali has said that oil marketing companies are incurring losses by buying products at high prices and giving them at low prices.
Tariq Wazir Ali, chairman of the Oil Marketing Association of Pakistan, while rejecting the differential claim system under subsidy on petroleum products, said that it would be more detrimental to the already crippled economy of the country.
Tariq Wazir Ali slammed the government’s strategy of not raising the prices of petroleum products by relying on PDCs, saying that the policy would add to the woes of oil marketing companies and its economy. There will be severe effects.
He added that oil marketing companies support the government’s decision not to raise the prices of petroleum products further, but that the government has reintroduced the decades-old PDC system to control prices.
Talking about the PDC system, Tariq Wazir Ali said that PDC is an amount that the government negotiates with refineries and importers at a later stage, especially when prices are low.
He said that this subsidy has greatly affected the oil marketing companies which have been buying expensive petroleum products at international prices and are now selling these products at lower prices.
He said that the oil marketing companies have been under severe pressure from the government agencies for some time now and in this situation, the removal of subsidies would be to the detriment of those companies which would be tantamount to the elimination of this sector.
Tariq Wazir Ali further clarified that Pakistan’s oil sector contributes more than Rs.1000 billion to the exchequer in the form of duties, taxes, and levies. These companies are a source of employment for over two and a half million people who cater to more than one million citizens of Pakistan, while these companies have more than 10,000 petrol pumps across Pakistan for businesses, farmers, industries, and our armed forces to provide petroleum products.
He further said that the government should ensure that the subsidy is for a specific period and it should specify the method of refund including markup. The government should also ensure that this system does not affect the profits of oil marketing companies.
Link to article: https://www.bolnews.com/urdu/latest/2021/11/914522/