The federal government has been able to collect a revenue of Rs114 billion through Petroleum Levy (PL) on petroleum products, an official of the Petroleum Division told Business Recorder.

The total PL budgetary target envisaged in the current financial year was Rs610 billion; however, the government could only collect 18 percent revenue through the PL in the first eight months of the current financial year.

On February 28, 2022, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced to keep the prices of petroleum products till June 2022 by abolishing the petroleum levy on high-speed diesel (HSD) and reducing PL on petrol at Rs1.81 per litre.

Earlier, in November 2021, the then adviser to the PM on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin had said PL should be increased by Rs4 per litre every month as the government aims to take the PL up to Rs30 per litre.

Speaking at a press conference after receiving confirmation from the IMF regarding the staff-level agreement, the PM’s aide said that Pakistan had already agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase the PL on petroleum products.

The story was originally published in Business Recorder on March 20, 2022.